


Soulmate Au - Lucas/Doyoung

by ijohns5833



Category: Kpop - Fandom, NCT
Genre: AU, F/M, Fanfic, Love Triangle, Soulmates, imagine
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-02
Updated: 2020-07-04
Packaged: 2021-03-02 09:22:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 17
Words: 53,743
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23969044
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ijohns5833/pseuds/ijohns5833
Summary: Nct soulmate au...you have a crush on your best friend, but what happens when he doesn't turn out to be your soulmate?this story is on wattpad and tumblr too @MulanTheWriter
Kudos: 3





	1. Chapter 1

“We’re soulmates, I know it.” You say with confidence. Lucas laughs, taking his popcorn bag to the head. “Y/n, you’re delusional. We’re not soulmates, how many times do I have to tell you this?” 

“You wanna bet? Look, everyone’s soulmarks come in tomorrow. If I’m wrong, and we’re not really soulmates, I won’t bug you about it ever again.” “And if you’re right..?” 

You leaned back into your cushioned chair with a smile, “You’ll end up with me after all.” Lucas laughs again with a roll of his eyes, as the movie theater lights dimmed. 

You two had been friends since middle school, but you’ve always had a crush on him- and he knew it. Lucas liked you too, but not in that way. You were pretty bold, always letting him know how handsome you thought he was, but he would always ignore your flirting, keeping you in the friendzone. 

Despite all the rejection, you were stubborn, and were convinced that you two were meant to be together. Soon he’d see that you were right, once your soulmarks came in. 

Soulmarks were kind of like birthmarks on your left wrist that come in on the 1st day of the year of your 18th birthday so you’d know who you should be with. 

Not everybody chooses to be with their soulmate, though. Most people do, but it wasn’t unheard of for people to marry someone who wasn’t their soulmate. Besides, just because you’re soulmates, doesn’t guarantee the relationship will work out. People will never be completely perfect for each other. There’ll always be problems.

So even though there was a bit of doubt in the back of your mind that you and Lucas were really meant to be together, you figured even if you weren’t, you’d still try to be with him. It hadn’t even occurred to you that maybe you hadn’t even met your real soulmate yet.

After leaving the movie theater, Lucas drops you off at home. “G’night shorty.” He smiled down at you, rubbing your head like you were a dog or something. You shot him a sarcastic smile, removing his hand from your head, clearly annoyed. “Goodnight tree,” you snarked back, making him laugh. “At school tomorrow, I wanna see your wrist right away, okay? You’ll see that I’m right!” “Heh. Whatever you say, Y/n..”

THE NEXT DAY…

Because you were so excited to see what your soulmark looked like, you woke up 45 minutes before your alarm went off. You immediately jumped out of bed to turn your light on. “Let’s see what this thing looks like.. Hope it’s not ugly..” You closed your eyes in anticipation, slowly turning your wrist around, then forcing your eyes open. 

It wasn’t there.

The soulmark hadn’t appeared yet. 

“It’s completely normal for it not to appear right away, honey. Mine didn’t come until it was late in the day.” Your mom tried convincing you. “Are you sure this isn’t some kind of medical problem or something?! What if this means I don’t end up with anybody?” You cried. 

Your mom sighed before walking around the table to hug you. “Stop worrying so much. It’ll come in, just be patient. Everyone gets theirs on January 1st of the year they turn 18. It’s always been that way, and you are no exception to that.” She rubs your back, reassuringly. “You’re right. Not everyone gets theirs at the same time… I wonder if Lucas got his yet?” You stopped sniffling. 

Your mom rolls her eyes, smiling slightly because she also knew about your hopeless crush on that boy. “Hurry up and finish your breakfast, I’m driving you to school until your car is fixed, remember? Don’t make me late for work.” “Okay mom,” you mockingly make a face.

As soon as you step into your first class, your friend, Aisha runs up to you, holding her wrist out for you to see. “Y/n, look at this! Look at this!” It was a blue flame. “A blue flame.. I saw someone in the hallway with this same soulmark--” “You did?! Who was it?” Aisha asks, looking hopeful. “..I can’t really remember, I think it was Moonbin..?” You guess, not entirely sure. “You’re kidding!” “Don’t quote me on that- I’m not positive it was him,” you say, raising your eyebrows. “Well, let me see yours.” She turns your wrist around. Still blank. You watch as her face twists up in confusion, and you snatch your wrist back, embarrassed. “It hasn’t come in yet.” You mutter quietly with a sigh. 

“Ah, I see.. Chin up, Y/n. It’ll come eventually,” Aisha shrugs before walking off to a group of other people in your class to show soulmarks to. As you walked across the classroom to your desk, you saw literally everyone else bragging about their soulmarks, proudly showing them off. Well, everyone except that quiet kid- Doyoung. He was just sitting at his desk, reading a book, as if nothing interesting was going on today. “He’s so weird..” you say to yourself, making a face. You wondered why he seemed so unbothered while everyone else cared so much about the soulmarks.

It seemed like nobody in your class had found their soulmate yet, but that didn’t stop them from showing off their cool soulmarks. “I wonder if I’ll hate the way mine looks..” Suddenly the teacher starts smacking a ruler on her desk to get everyone’s attention. “Class? Class! Settle down… I know everyone is excited because we’ve started a new year, and that everyone’s soulmarks are starting to come in, but we still need to focus on studying for midterms.” Everyone groans at the mention of those dreaded exams. “I remember when I was your age, and all I cared about was finding my husband- and it caused my grades to go down because i spent so much time trying to find him instead of studying..” Your professor rambled on. This wasn’t the first time she complained to you all about never finding her soulmate. Maybe he was in an accident or something terrible happened. 

There also was a chance that he didn’t want to be found. You’d heard stories like that before too. You would think that in a world where it’s specifically written out on your wrist who you’re supposed to be with, that finding love would be easier, but life is still complicated. 

After class, you gather up all your textbooks and things, stopping in your tracks to check for your soulmark. Still wasn’t there. Suddenly, someone behind you didn’t realize you’d stopped walking, and bumped into you. “Hey, watch where-” you turned around to see that it was that quiet guy, Doyoung. “You made me drop all my stuff.” He glared at you. “Well maybe watch where you’re going next time.” You glared back, not because you were angry at him, but because you were already having a bad day. All this soulmark stuff was stressing you out. “Sorry..” you snapped out of it, bending down to help him pick up his books.

“I don’t need your help.” He pushes your arm away, and in the process, you catch a glance at his left wrist. It was blank too. “Hmm.. that’s interesting.” You said, thinking out loud. “What?” He asked, straightening back up. “..I thought I was the only one who was still blank.” You say with a slightly bitter smile, pointing at his wrist. He looks down at yours to see it was also blank. “Oh well,” you shrug, walking off to your next class. You quickened your steps, because Lucas was in this next class. Even though you were bummed about your mark not showing up yet, you were still excited to see what Lucas’ looked like. Mainly because you knew that was what your soulmark would look like too. You wanted to know what to expect.

As you sped through the hallway, Aisha caught up with you, linking arms. “Y/n, you were right- Moonbin is my soulmate!!” She practically screamed in your ear. “Oh my goodness, I’m jealous,” you smile. You were actually really happy for her. She’s had a crush on Moonbin since forever..well, pretty much everyone did, but you thought he’d be a great match for Aisha. They were both tall. “Aw, don’t be, Y/n. I’m sure your soulmate will be just as great as mine,” she smiles before skipping off to her own class. “She must not think Lucas is my soulmate either..” You thought to yourself, wondering why she didn't specifically say he’d make a great soulmate for you.

When you finally made it to your next class, you spot Lucas in the middle of the room immediately. He wasn’t hard to find, since he was so tall. A smile immediately came onto your face as he noticed you’d come in and he waved you over. “Let me see it.” He says curiously, hiding his own wrist behind his back. “No, you first.” You say, teasingly hiding yours behind your back as well. You weren’t sure how to tell him yours hadn’t come in yet. “Alright, fine.” He turns his hand around so you can see. 

It was a bright red heart. Nothing special, but you felt like it summed Lucas up perfectly. “Awe, this is what our soulmarks look like? How cute.” You say, grabbing his wrist and bringing it closer to your face to get a better look at it. “What do you mean by that? Has yours not come in yet?” He asks, taking your hand and flipping it. He raises his eyebrows. “Wow, your soulmark is clear!” “No it is not, you moron. It just hasn’t appeared yet.” You giggle, snatching your hand back. You were getting more and more impatient waiting on this thing to appear as the hours went by.

You had tried convincing Lucas that your soulmark would for sure match his as soon as it appeared, but he shrugged, obviously not believing you. He loved you, but he knew he wasn’t meant to be with you in that way. 

Despite how trying this day was, you were relieved to hear that he hadn’t found anybody else with the same soulmark (yet), and he pointed out that the fact that you even had to ask proves that you two probably weren’t soulmates. You just rolled your eyes in response, but it really did make you think about the possibility of your soulmate being someone other than Lucas. It was a scary thought.

Lucas was literally your whole world, and you couldn’t imagine life without him, so if that doesn’t equal a soulmate, you didn’t know what did.

Just about the whole school day had finished, and you still hadn’t gotten your mark yet. You’d pretty much given up on it at this point. You had seen a few other people throughout the day that didn’t have theirs yet either, but you found them again at the end of the day and each one of them had gotten theirs- finally. 

Well, there was still Doyoung. You hadn’t seen him all day since this morning, and you wondered if his soulmark ever appeared. “If I were an anti-social bookworm, where would I be..?” You asked yourself, walking around campus, searching for Doyoung. 

You didn’t know him well at all, but you were curious to see if his soulmark had come in yet. In truth, you just didn’t want to be the only one who hadn’t gotten one yet. It made you feel like you were going to die alone. Sure, that was a bit dramatic, but this whole ‘soulmark’ thing really affects a person's future.

Eventually you guessed he was sitting by the fountain out in the yard, since it was quiet and conducive for reading, and you were right. He was sitting under a tree, book in hand. He was listening to music and slightly bobbing his head to whatever rhythm was playing in his ears. You decided to turn back, since he looked so peaceful, and you didn’t want to disturb him. But he looked up and saw you before you could leave. “Shoot.”

“What, are you stalking me now?” He asks, furrowing his eyebrows and taking out an earbud. You give him an expressionless look, before rolling your eyes. “I just wanted to see if you got your soulmark yet..” You trail off, feeling embarrassed you actually seeked him out just to ask him this. He doesn’t respond, but keeps looking up at you. “..I just need to know I’m not the only one who hasn’t gotten theirs yet.” You say with a shaky voice, looking up so the tears wouldn’t fill your eyes. Normally you weren’t this pressed about things, but you were really starting to think you were gonna end up alone. Doyoung’s face softened as he noticed how vulnerable you were being. “Forget it. It doesn’t matter, I know it’ll appear eventually.. I’m just being dramatic.” You say, about to turn and leave. You regretted finding him.

“I still haven’t gotten mine either.” He finally says, before going back to reading his book. Your eyes widen in surprise as you glance back down at him. He put his earbud back in. A small smile made its way onto your face, now that you knew you weren’t ‘soulmark-less’ alone. Somebody else was in the same boat as you and it made you feel less worried about the future. You walked away without saying anything else, since that was really all you wanted to hear. You were shocked since you had fully expected him to have gotten his soulmark by now, like the others.

As you walked away, Doyoung looked up from his book. He briefly glanced at you before pulling down his sleeve to reveal his wrist. There were three neon green music notes on it. He lied to you because he didn’t want you to be crushed when you found out you really were the only one who was still soulmark-less.

At home, your mom asked if your soulmark had come in yet, and you replied with a ‘no’. She was surprised at how calm you were when you said it. It was like you’d accepted that it would still take some more time before it appeared. You wondered if it was still choosing who your soulmate would be or something. “Why is it taking so long?” 

Even though you were a bit annoyed about this, you were fine knowing that you weren’t the only one who was still waiting. You decided to take a nap and that maybe it would appear by the time you woke up.

A FEW HOURS LATER…

Lucas had come over, because he was just as anxious to see your soulmark as you were. He wondered if you were right about being soulmates all along. He was outside your room on the couch, waiting for you to wake up, when all of a sudden he heard a scream. Your mom and Lucas burst into your room as soon as they could, wondering what happened. 

“It’s coming in- it’s coming in-” you panic. “What’s coming in?” Your mom asks, terrified. “My soulmark!” You shouted, and Lucas quickly came across the room to sit on the floor next to you. 

You had been staring at your wrist for a few minutes, but the process was pretty slow, so you were only able to make out a few shapes. It hadn’t even occurred to you that your soulmark already looked nothing like Lucas’.

“I can’t look-” you said dramatically, looking away from your wrist. Your mom had gone back to her room, saying she’d return after your mark had fully appeared. She didn’t have the time to just sit around waiting for it like you and Lucas did. 

A few minutes later, Lucas tapped your shoulder. “Umm.. Y/n?” “What?” “Your soulmark..” “What about it? It matches yours, doesn’t it?” You ask, still refusing to look at it. “It’s.. green.. Neon green.” He finishes. “What?” You scrunch your eyebrows up in confusion, finally bringing your wrist up to your face to get a look at this soulmark for yourself. 

Before, there (sort of) wasn’t a doubt in your mind that you’d have the same soulmark as Lucas, but seeing it right there in front of your eyes— three neon green music notes… It just didn’t make sense. “This can’t be right.. They got my soulmark wrong! ..What?..” You stared at it in shock and disbelief. Lucas awkwardly watched in silence as you tried to process this.

The soulmark did sum you up pretty well, just like Lucas’ matched his personality. You loved music- it was your life.. One of the main things that made you happy. 

But you loved Lucas more. Or at least you thought you did. You just froze there with your wrist up in the air in front of your face as you blankly stared at the mark. The color was so bright and intriguing. You actually kind of liked it. It was weird, but it was you. 

But it wasn’t what you wanted. You wanted the bright red heart to match Lucas’. “Y/n..” Lucas starts, not really sure what to say to you. He honestly wasn’t surprised at all that your marks didn’t match up, but he wasn’t about to tell you that. “Can you just leave me alone for a bit? I’ll text you later, okay?” You interrupt, letting your hand drop. You didn’t look at him. You were too ashamed. He nodded, giving you a hug before leaving. He was a great friend.. Nothing more.

For years you had been so certain that you and Lucas were soulmates because of how well you got along, but to have that not be a reality was killing you. You didn’t know what to do. 

Should you go out looking for your real soulmate? Should you ignore what you said in the bet and continue to pursue Lucas anyway? What if he met his soulmate and wanted to be with her? You ignored your mother's worried knocks on the door as you buried yourself under your blankets. You didn’t want to talk to anyone tonight. 

You just needed time to process this.


	2. CHAPTER TWO

When you woke up, you had almost forgotten about the whole soulmark situation until you saw your wrist and all the memories came flooding back. 

“This can’t be happening. How is this my life?” You mutter to yourself, dangling off of your bed upside down. Before you had gone to sleep last night, you finally let your mother in and she was also shocked that your mark didn’t match Lucas’.

She was there to support you, though, telling you how you’ll find the right guy eventually. You responded saying you didn’t want to find him- you wanted Lucas, but she responded saying “you may not want to find him, but he’ll find you.”

You decided to wear a long sleeved shirt to cover up your soulmark just in case what your mom said was true. You didn’t want to be found. 

After thinking about it for a while, you’d decided if you couldn’t be with Lucas, you didn’t want to be with anybody. You didn’t tell your mom that, though.

At school, Aisha immediately asked to see your soulmark, but you refused. “What? Did you not get one or something?” “I got one.. I just don’t want to show it.” You say dryly, but Aisha laughs, thinking you’re joking. “Y/n, it can’t be that bad! I’m sure it’s not ugly, let me see—” “I said I don’t wanna show it!” You yelled. “..Well alright then,” she replied, giving you a concerned look before walking over to her other friends.

They were probably asking her what was wrong with you.

Even though you had made up your mind about choosing not to find your soulmate, you were still irritated at everyone else because they’d probably match up with the people they wanted to- like Aisha did. You knew you shouldn't take your anger out on people, but you really didn't care.

The day for getting soulmarks had passed, but there still was a lot of buzz and commotion going around the school about them. It was the only thing students in your class were talking about. 

You slumped into your chair, slamming your books onto the desk. 

Doyoung’s desk was the one behind you, so he looked up from his book, startled when you slammed your things onto the desk. He wanted to ask what was wrong, but decided he probably shouldn’t be nosy, so he just went back to reading.

After class ended, he noticed you were still in a mood, and his curiosity got the best of him, so he asked, “Did your soulmark ever come in?” 

You turn in your seat, giving Doyoung the side-eye before answering, “Yup.” Then you gathered up your things, getting ready to head to your next class. You just wanted to get this day over with.

To your surprise, Doyoung wasn’t done talking, though. “Then why do you seem upset?” He followed after you. “Why do you care?” You stop in your tracks to look at him. You had quite the cold expression on your face, but it didn’t faze him. “..I don't care, but yesterday you seemed-” “I was being over-dramatic yesterday. I’m over it now. My soulmark came in, it just wasn’t…” you trailed off, not knowing how to explain. “It just wasn’t the one I wanted.” You say, leaving it at that.

The rest of the day was kind of a blur to you. Nothing seemed to matter anymore. All you could think about was how you felt like you’d lost your best friend. He was going to have somebody new in his life. Somebody more important to him than you. It didn't feel right.

You were avoiding Lucas all day, due to embarassment, but also because you said that you’d stop bugging him if you lost the bet- which you did. 

After classes ended, you somehow found yourself wandering around campus for no specific reason. You walked past the many dorm rooms, the statues, the fountain- just trying to clear your mind. 

This whole soulmark situation was reminding you of what happened to your mother, and it was scaring you because you never wanted to experience what happened to her.

Once upon a time— a long time ago, there were the three of you. A happy little family. But one day your dad left your mother for another woman who wasn’t even his soulmate. You were so young at the time, when it happened, that you remember nothing about him, but you noticed how it affected your mom on a daily basis.

She thought about him alot, but never told you anything about him. You figured it was too painful for her to talk about, so you never asked.

That kind of abandonment was just cruel. Nobody should have to experience that. 

Your current situation wasn’t anything like that- but it would just be another example of how soulmarks don’t always work out the way they should. They don’t guarantee happiness. 

“Should I find you? ..Or am I really just better off alone?” You ask your soulmark, letting it peak out from under your sleeve a bit. Earlier you thought you were certain about your choice to just stay single, but you were having second thoughts about that now. It was always so hard for you to make up your mind about things. Making wise choices wasn't easy for you. 

Your thoughts were interrupted when you accidentally ran into somebody.

Whoever it was- had been foolishly walking while reading a book, not looking where he was going, and you crashed into him. Thankfully you both landed on the grass. Well, you landed on top of him, and he landed on the grass. 

Instead of apologizing, your first reaction was to scold whoever this was for not watching where he was going (even though you weren’t either). “Wh- You again?” You say, leaning up to see Doyoung. 

This was the second time you two had run into each other, and it was starting to get annoying. “Get off of me,” he says, shoving you onto the grass. “Wow, what a gentleman.” you say sarcastically, peeling yourself off the ground. 

“I lost my place in my book-” He complains, bending over to pick it up. “Get over it. There’s bigger problems in the world than a stupid book.” You roll your eyes, starting to walk off.

He grabs your arm before you can go, though. 

“Look, I don’t know why you’re taking your disappointment about the soulmark thing out on me, but I’m not the one you need to be mad at.” “Then who should I be mad at then?” You ask, angrily. You didn’t even realize how agitated you’d gotten. Today really wasn't the day for people to be starting things with you.

He doesn't answer, but lets go of your arm.

“Don’t you even care about who you’ll end up with? Because you act like it’s not a big deal when it really is.” You cross your arms, waiting for an answer. 

Deep down, you actually wished you cared as little as Doyoung did about soulmates. Caring was exhausting.

“That’s because I don’t care.. Why should I? I’m content with the way my life is now. I don’t need anybody else.” He replies, just as coldly as you had. “The question is- why do you care so much about finding them?”

“I told you earlier. I thought I had already found him, but now that I know he wasn’t really the one.. I don’t know what to do.” You shake your head, getting teary eyed again. 

“I don’t even know why I’m telling you all this,” you look away with a bitter smile. Doyoung sighs. “Don’t you know that you don’t have to be with your soulmate? Whoever this guy you thought was the one is- just be with him,” Doyoung says matter-of-factly, like the solution was obvious. You just stare at him in wonder. “Is it really that simple?”

You actually consider it for a second, but shake your head.

“I’m scared to do that.. I told him I’d leave him alone if we weren’t really soulmates, and we’re not.. What if he finds who he’s supposed to be with and ends up liking her? What do I do then?” You ask, not expecting an answer. Your lip begins quivering. 

You were an emotional wreck these days.

“Maybe you should move on, then.” He says, and you shake your head because that’s exactly what you didn’t want to hear, but you knew he was right. 

“Look, I’m sorry for being such a jerk. I’ve just been really stressed out about this.” You apologize, looking down at your feet.

“Yeah, I can tell.” He replies, scratching the back of his neck. As his sleeve falls a bit, you could’ve sworn you’d seen neon green on his wrist, but he put his hand back down so quickly that you weren’t sure that’s what you really saw. 

You briefly considered asking to see his soulmark, but you decided against it. Why would he, of all people, be your soulmate? That’d be so random. You brushed it off. 

“What book are you even reading?” You ask, taking it out of his hand. You wanted to change the subject. “It’s called The Poet.” He answers, watching you flip through the pages. “Oh. Sounds boring.. What’s it about?” “It’s basically Criminal Minds, but in book form.” 

“No way, really? That sounds scary.. But cool.” You smile a bit, handing it back. “It is, but I don’t get scared easily.” He replies, a bit smugly. You raise an eyebrow at him. 

“What?” “..Nothing.. you're just different from how I expected you to be.”

“..Is that a good thing?” “Yeah, I used to think you were mute.” You laugh a bit, and he raises his eyebrows. “Just because I don’t speak that much in class doesn’t mean I’m mute!” He smiles, shaking his head, sounding offended. This was the first time you’d seen him smile. 

It was cute. 

“No seriously- I hadn’t heard you say one word until yesterday. And I’ve known you since like, middle school.” you continue giggling. He shakes his head. “Is this what people think of me?” “Yeah, pretty much everyone thinks you’re mute,” you tease, nodding your head.

You and Doyoung end up walking around campus and talking for a while, until your mom comes to pick you up. She had been picking you up and dropping you off here for about a week now, since your car was still being repaired.

“What are you so smiley about?” Your mom asks with an eyebrow up, once you get in the car. “Nothing.” You reply back. You wanted to believe it was nothing, but you actually really enjoyed talking with Doyoung today. For years the only one you’d had random, meaningless conversations with was Lucas. This was something new and unexpected, but you liked it.

“Did you sort things out with Lucas?” Your mom asks, guessing that was what you were smiling about. “No. I haven’t spoken to him all day, actually.” 

“Oh.. Well, did you meet your soulmate?” She tries guessing one more time. “Mom, please stop asking.” You shake your head.

You didn't feel like talking about anything having to do with soulmates. You figured that’s why you liked talking with Doyoung so much- he made you remember that there’s more to life than just finding a soulmate.

“I’m just trying to see what’s going on in your life, Y/n. You’ve been distant lately, and I don’t like it.” “I’ll come back to you, mom. Don’t worry.. I just need to sort things out in my mind first, and then I’ll come to you.” You explain, and she nods.

Since it was always just the two of you, you had a closer bond than most mothers and daughters. Your mom was more like your best friend than a mom. Sure, she disciplined you when she needed to, but she always made sure every choice she made was for your benefit.

You two always shared everything (mostly) with each other, so that's why your mom was worried that you were suddenly hiding things from her. She knew you’d eventually talk to her about whatever was going on, though.

Later that day, you get a few calls and texts from Lucas (that you ignored). You still needed some space away from him to sort things out. 

You still weren’t sure if you wanted to search for your soulmate, or if it would just be a waste of time. 

What if you never found him? What if he wasn’t even from your country? You had so many questions, but the one thing you did know was that what Doyoung said was right- you had to move on from Lucas so he'd be free to find his own soulmate and be happy with whoever that was.


	3. CHAPTER THREE

The rest of the week passed by quite fast. You’d finally decided on not looking for your soulmate- since you were still in the process of getting over Lucas. But if he found you, you’d see where it goes. But until then, you just wanted to focus on yourself. 

Aisha and a few of her friends invited you out to go to a Karaoke joint (that was also a restaurant), so of course you agreed to join. You weren’t that into singing in front of a crowd, but you didn’t mind doing it if you were in a group.

“Aisha and Moonbin should do a duet,” one of his friends, Rocky suggested with a smirk. You’d noticed his soulmark was the same shade of blue as Moonbin and Aisha’s, but it wasn’t a flame like theirs. “Eh, I don’t know about that..” Aisha shrugs, not really wanting to sing in front of everybody. “You don’t have to be afraid- you have me, remember?” Moonbin smiles, taking her hand. 

They were so cute it was sickening. 

“Nice to see someone’s getting along well with her soulmate..” you mutter under your breath. “I know right,” Lucas replies, making you jump because you didn’t know he heard you. Over the weekend, you two had starting talking again. He told you the bet was stupid and that he didn’t want you to ‘stop bugging him’. 

He missed you.

“Come on Binnie, the stage is empty,” Aisha says, dragging him over to the front of the restaurant. “Uh-oh, we better record this. It’ll be hilarious,” Lucas jokes, taking his phone out. He was expecting the two of them to make fools out of themselves. “Have you ever heard Moonbin sing before? Both him and Aisha sound great- they’re like professionals..” You say, and he shook his head. “Really?”

The song they chose starts filling the speakers of the dimly lit restaurant, and all of the attention is on Aisha and Moonbin. Not only can they sing well, but they also created a dance to their duet song- on the spot, entertaining everyone, including the workers. “They’re good,” Lucas acknowledges with wide-eyes. “See, I told you.” You laugh, grateful you two were back on speaking terms without much awkwardness.

After they finished up their song, the music went back to the original playlist that had been set as a default, and some people cheered for them. Eventually your group got a table and waited for the food to be served. It was one of those places where there’s a fire pit in the table and you have to cut and cook your own meat after it’s brought over to your table. Once all the food came and was cooked up, it smelled delicious. 

This restaurant really was amazing.

Your group was on the third round of meat when all of a sudden the upbeat music changed into a slow ballad-type song, as someone got on stage to sing. “Oh no, not a slow song,” you rolled your eyes. You loved all types of music, but generally listened to more upbeat music, especially when you were out at a restaurant like this. Sometimes slower music just made you tired. 

“This guy sounds really good too.. Wait- doesn’t he go to our school?” Lucas says after the person singing was about a minute into his song, and everyone at your table turns around to see who Lucas was talking about.

“Doyoung?” 

“Is that his name? Wow, I didn’t even know that dude could speak,” Lucas jokes, making everyone laugh. You pretend to laugh too, but you were intently watching him sing. He really was good at it. His voice was very unique, you could hear the emotion in his voice with every lyric he sang. It was like he really felt the music. Not every singer has the talent of making people feel stuff just by singing, but Doyoung could do it. At the end of his song, you found yourself giving him a standing ovation. 

“Y/n, I didn’t know you liked ballads?” Lucas raises an eyebrow. “I do now,” you reply with a laugh, taking your seat as more meat comes to your table. “My precious!” he says to the meat, with wide eyes as he grabbed the bowl from the waiter, and you chuckle.

By the time all of you are finished eating, you all get up to head out. “I’m gonna go to the bathroom real quick, don’t wait for me,” you say to the group as an excuse to hang back. You had just noticed that Doyoung was still here, even after hours had passed by. When you walked up to him, you realized he had a uniform and apron on. You didn’t even realize that he worked here. 

“Y/n?” “Hey, Doyoung. I was just here with some friends and we heard you singing- you’re really good!” You say, trying to speak over the loud music. His face turns a light shade of red, and he smiles, looking down. “Oh, no- I’m not that good.” “What are you being so modest for? You’re amazing,” you smile. Suddenly, Doyoung’s boss approaches him, asking if he can go sing another song up on the stage to encourage more people to want to do it, and Doyoung agrees to it.

“Oh, is she your girlfriend?” His boss asks, pointing at you. She had noticed you two were talking, and just assumed. “Uh-” “Um. No, I’m not,” you tell her, shaking your head. “We’re just friends.” “Really? I didn’t even know we were that-” “I don’t care what you two are- I just need you both to go up there and sing. Not enough people are using the Karaoke side of the restaurant, but if they see other people are doing it, it’ll make them want to as well.” She replies, shoo-ing you both off towards the stage. “But I don’t even work here-” “Don’t care, go on.” “But I’m not a good singer-” (you lie). “Doesn’t matter, most people in here aren’t professional singers anyway. Nobody will care,” she says.

“Sorry about her..” Doyoung says, once you both are on stage, picking out a song. “Is it alright if we do a ballad? ..Y/n?” “Sorry- I h-have stage fright.” You stutter out, and Doyoung’s expression softens again. “I used to have stage fright when I was young.” “Really?” “Yeah.. what helped me was to not look at the audience, but to look at whoever I was singing to.” “That doesn’t work when you’re singing solo though, does it?” “It does actually- I usually just pick one person in the crowd out to sing to. It just helps to focus on the one person until you get comfortable to look around the crowd.” He says, and you gulp with a nod.

“Ready?” He asks after you two had settled on a song, and as soon as you nod, he presses play, and hands you a microphone. As soon as the music plays, all eyes are on you two. Or at least it felt like all eyes were on you.. Most of the people there only cared about their food- not who was using the karaoke machine. 

You weren’t even sure if your voice was going to work or not, and you shut your eyes, fearfully. Doyoung noticed, and since the intro to the song was long, he walked over to you to calm you down.

“Y/n, just look at me.” He said, taking your left hand with his right. You listened and gradually opened your eyes, looking at him. 

His eyes were calming. It was as if they were saying ‘you can do this.’

You took a deep breath and sang with him, making sure to block out everyone else in the room. “It’s just me and him. No reason to be afraid..” His strategy was actually working, and you both sounded great. His boss was impressed.

You were so into the song that you hadn’t even noticed that Lucas came back into the restaurant, looking for you.

Even after the song ended, you were still gazing into Doyoung’s eyes, but the claps and cheering made you remember you were on a stage. You smiled shyly, letting go of his hand before putting the mic back and scurrying off the stage. Doyoung followed, after setting his mic down too.

“Would you like a job here? You and Doyoung had a lot of chemistry up there..” His boss asks you with a smile, stopping you as you walked past her. “Oh, no thank you- I’m actually just trying to focus on school right now, but thanks for the offer.” “Hmm, that’s too bad. You two make a great team-- see look, there’s already a line for the karaoke machine now.” She smirks, proudly. 

You glanced behind her to see she was right- there was a line now.

“We have chemistry! What did she mean by that?” You jokingly ask Doyoung, after she walked away. He shrugs and clears his throat as Lucas walks up behind you. “Y/n, I thought you said you just had to use the bathroom, how did you end up on stage?” He asks. “Uh, well-” “My boss forced her to join me up there, it wasn’t her choice.” Doyoung explains. “Ah, I see. Well, you both sounded great, though. Who knew you could sing that well, shorty?” Lucas laughs, rubbing your head like you were his pet again. 

You hated when he did that. (It made you feel small.)

“You’re messing up my hair.” You say, sending an annoyed expression his way. “Come on, Y/n, let’s go.” Lucas says with a laugh, putting an arm around your shoulder to guide you out. “Oh- alright. See you around, Doyoung.” You say, and he just nods before going back to work.

“You two seem to get along well.. I didn’t know you were friends.” Lucas says once you’re outside. You were going to ask your mom to pick you up, but Lucas said he’d drop you off. “Yeah, it’s kind of a new thing..” “That’s not what it looked like to me..” he says vaguely with an unreadable expression on his face as you two climb into his truck. 

Usually Lucas was always joking about something, but this was a rare occasion where he actually seemed serious. You turned to look at him. “Why? Are you jealous?” You joke, trying to get him to lighten up. He smiles a little, but doesn’t respond.

“He’s not your.. He’s not your soulmate, right?” He asks, finally getting to the point. “Would it matter to you if he was? You’re not my soulmate, and you already made it clear that you don’t want to be with me, so..” “You’re right, you’re right. I’m sorry for asking- I was just curious.”

You looked at him in confusion. He was sending major mixed signals, and you didn’t know what to make of it.

“Well, you have nothing to worry about, because I decided I’m not even going to look for my soulmate.” “What? Why not?” “There’s more to life than just that, and I want to get to know myself better and do what I wanna do before having to share my life with somebody else, you know?” He nods, but doesn’t respond. 

You spent most of your life telling him about how you two would be amazing soulmates, because you both already knew each other so well, and Lucas just wasn’t used to the new you. He wasn’t sure how you could just move on that quickly after spending years obsessing over him.

“Thanks for the ride.” You say, hopping out of the truck. “Text me later, okay?” He says, and you give a thumbs up before going into your house.

You had much to think about- 

How Lucas was acting all protective of you out of nowhere, and how you and Doyoung had chemistry(?) 

You figured Lucas was only acting this way because he was just used to you always pining after him, but as soon as you stopped- he probably started missing that.

You had no explanation for the Doyoung thing though. 

“Now that I think about it, we’ve never seen each other’s soulmarks..” You say to yourself, but then quickly brushed it off, thinking that maybe you were just caught up in the moment when you were singing with him on stage. 

That doesn’t equal chemistry- he was just helping you overcome your stage fright. 

“Everything alright?” Your mom asked, lightly tapping on your door. “Mhm.” 

“You ready to talk yet?” “Nope.” “..Alright, well I’ll be here waiting when you are. Oh, and by the way, the car dealership called and said your car is all repaired, so you can go pick it up tomorrow.” She tells you, and you nod. You figured you’d have to take your bike there since you didn’t feel like bothering Lucas about driving you.

Before your mom leaves, she asks one more thing, “Why do you always keep your soulmark covered up? Don’t you want him to find you?” She noticed that ever since you’d gotten it, you only wore long sleeved shirts- and the weather hadn’t even been cold lately. “..No, not really... I think I’m scared I’ll be abandoned like you were..” you say honestly. You didn’t want to hurt your mom’s feelings, but you had to be honest. “I understand..” she says, about to come in, but you stop her.

“Please don’t come in, I really don’t want to talk about it yet..” You say, holding a hand up as if to say ‘stop’. She nods, before disappearing down the hall to her own room. You felt bad for being so blunt about it, but you were glad you could actually say it out loud now. Before, you couldn’t admit to yourself the real reason you didn’t want to be found by your soulmate.. You were scared.

You were scared of abandonment, to be more specific. So to avoid that completely- just avoid finding your soulmate. Simple as that. Lucas pretty much was the only guy you trusted enough to know that he’d never abandon you, but he wasn’t the one for you, so what was the point. You didn’t have the courage to let your guard down with another guy- only to end up getting hurt. 

You finally realized that it was your dad who gave you trust issues, and it was really starting to affect your life.

You peaked under your sleeve at the neon green music notes. Then you briefly flashed back to when you had thought you’d seen the same neon green on Doyoung’s wrist. “..Nah.. can’t be him.. We don’t even have anything in common.. Besides music.”

“Oh shoot..”


	4. CHAPTER FOUR

You decided to avoid Doyoung now, (because that’s how you handled every problem- avoiding it), even though you weren’t positive he was actually your soulmate. 

Just in case what you thought you saw was really what you thought you saw, the safest option would just be to avoid him altogether. It’s not even like you two were close anyways- you’d only had like one good conversation together, and then that duet thing at the restaurant.. Besides that, nothing else had happened between you two.

“But what if that explains why we kept running into each other?” You wonder, but quickly erase the thought from your mind. There was no way Doyoung was your soulmate, he wasn’t even your type. Lucas was your type. “Pfft- I bet the soulmark doesn’t care about tYpE when it’s choosing..” 

“Y/n, go get your car from the dealership, they should be open by now.” Your mom says from down the hall. “Okay!” You say back, hopping out of bed and running out to grab your bike and head down to the dealership. 

Once you're there, you park your bike on the grass and go in. The lady at the desk says to wait outside and that someone will bring your keys. This place wasn’t too far away from your home, but the area looked completely different. Shiny cars were all over the place. It was like a sea of them. A man eventually comes out of the building to hand you your keys, and as you look up to thank him, you notice he looks vaguely familiar. 

You knew him.

“Wait a minute-”

“Dad?” You asked.

He looked confused for a split second, but then his eyes widened in realization. “Y/n?” “Yeah, that's me..” “How did you..? You’re so grown! How did you find me?” “..I wasn't looking.. I guess this is all just a coincidence,” you shrug, staring at him. 

It was so strange to see him in real life and not just in a picture. You weren't mad at him, but you just couldn't understand him. 

You couldn't understand how someone could leave their wife and young child.

“Can we talk?” You ask him after a minute of silence. “Yes-- of course.” He says, placing a hand on your back to guide you inside, and you shivered.

It felt weird.. Him touching you. 

He led you into his office and you sat down in the chair on the opposite side of his desk, and he sat down in the other chair.

“How have you and your mother been?” He asks, not knowing where else to start. He leaned onto the desk on his elbows, looking at you with raised eyebrows. He was so shocked to see you after all this time.

“We’ve been doing fine. I actually just got my soulmark a week ago..” You say, deciding to humor him with light conversation. You wanted to get straight to the heavy stuff and ask why he left, but you waited. “No way, that means you're already turning-” “18, yeah… You’ve been gone for that long.” You say with an unreadable expression. You were hurt, but still wanted answers.

Nothing he could say would take the pain away, but you felt like if you heard the reason why he left coming from his own mouth that it would give you some kind of closure.

“Dad, I know we just met, but I really just wanna get straight to the point.” You say, unable to wait for answers any longer. You just stare at him. This stranger. 

For some reason, though, you didn't have a problem calling him ‘dad’. 

“Okay...” He leans back off of his desk. “..Why did you leave mom for someone who wasn't even your soulmate? How could you do that to her? What kind of betrayal-” “Is that what she told you about me? That I left her for someone who wasn't my soulmate?” His eyebrows furrowed strongly. “Yeah- of course that’s what she told me! That's what you did!” You blew up, scrunching up your eyebrows as well.

You couldn’t believe he was deflecting the fault onto your mother.

“No, Y/n. That's not the full story..” 

You squint your eyes at him in confusion, crossing your arms. “Alright. Let me hear your side of the story then.”

“Y/n, it’s kind of hard to explain, but.. your mother and I were soulmates-” “What do you mean were?” “We used to be- as in past tense. But then my soulmark started to change..” “You’re full of crap. Do you really expect me to believe that your mark changed?! How dumb do you think I am?” You get up. “Y/n-” “I’m leaving, I should've just acted like I didn't recognize you. That's what you would've done if I hadn't said anything, right?” You say, walking towards the door.

“Y/n wait- I have proof! Please don't go. I have proof that my soulmark did change.” You took a breath before turning back around to face him. You didn’t sit back down though. 

The anger you had pent up inside of you against this man for abandoning you and your mother was starting to come out now. You didn’t even realize how angry you actually were. Initially, you really wanted to be friendly to him- you had imagined how this conversation would go in your head many times, but you knew that whatever he said- you’d never be okay with what he did.

He took out a wedding picture of him and your mother. They both had a single pink rose on their left wrist. You saw that clearly. “Now look at my wrist.” He says, holding it out for you to see. You give him a skeptical look before gazing down at his soulmark. The rose was red now. In the picture- it was clearly pink, but the one he had today was bright red. His really did change..

You couldn't believe what you were seeing. 

“How could mom leave out this crucial detail? ..Did she want me to hate him as much as she did?” 

“There's more. When I was in highschool- years before I had met your mother, I was dating my best friend. But when our soulmarks came and we weren't a match, we ended up breaking up and finding our soulmates.

One day, she called me up and told me her mark had changed, and I had been hiding mine from your mother for months too- I didn't know what was happening, or why it was changing, but I just knew I belonged with Melody the whole time, and not your—”

You slapped him.

You didn't know what came over you. His story made sense- of course he was meant to be with his high school sweetheart. You just didn't want to hear him say it.. That he didn't belong with your mom, when at one point he truly believed that he did. It was a lot to take in. You didn't respond for a while. The room was completely still in silence.

“Melody's former soulmate.. did his soulmark disappear? Like after hers changed? Did his soulmark disappear?” You finally ask, not looking up from your hands that were gripping the edge of the long brown desk.

“Yes, actually.. She told me his did disappear. And that's how she knew she wasn't supposed to be with him anymore.. Did your mother..” 

“She lost hers too. She never told me why it disappeared, but I just figured it was because you left her.” 

He was silent.

“I’m sorry for slapping you, dad. It's just a lot to process.” You shake your head. “I understand. I should be the one apologizing for not being around for you at least. Even though me and your mother didn't work out, I should've still tried to be a part of your life.. I just thought that I’d already caused your mother enough pain- leaving her, and I thought she'd be better off without me in the picture at all.”

“But dad, what about me? Didn't you consider how your choices would affect me?”

Again, he doesn't answer.. Because he doesn't have an answer. There was no excuse for what he did- even if his soulmate was someone else, he still had the obligation to help raise you- which he failed to do.

After that, you turn to leave. Your dad gave you his number in case you want to talk to him again some time. You were hesitant to take it. 

He told you he really wanted to make up for not being around, and that he really wanted to get to know you. You didn't know if you believed him or not, but you did know that he told you more of the truth than your mother had. 

You weren't angry at her either, but you didn't like that she only told you half of the story about what happened. Especially since you two normally told each other everything, it hurt that she kept this huge thing from you.

Your dad helped you load your bike into the trunk of your newly repaired car, and watched as you drove off, a bit somber.

He really hadn't expected to see you today.

As you drove home, you thought about everything he said and how crazy the whole ‘changing soulmark’ thing was. You didn’t even know it was possible.

As soon as you got home, you cracked open your laptop and googled if it was possible for your soulmark to change, just to get further confirmation, and a whole bunch of articles came up.

You ended up reading every single one you could find. You wanted to make sure this thing you dad claimed to experience was actually a real thing- even though you saw the evidence. Research was just one of the ways you processed things. After all of your research, you concluded that he was telling the truth.

It's just really unfortunate that this kind of thing happens to some couples. Your family was happy before his soulmark had to change everything. Now he probably had a whole other family. 

“I probably have a bunch of siblings I don't even know about.” You realize with a sigh.

There was suddenly a knock at your door, and you quickly shut your laptop. “Mom?” “No, it's Lucas.” “Oh, hey! Come in.” 

“Everything alright?” He asks as he walks in and sits on your bean bag chair you had laid up the floor. The one time you actually wanted your mom to walk through the door, was the one time she was nowhere to be found. “No i’m not actually.. I met my dad.” 

Lucas’ eyes widen. “You did? What was he like?” “He seemed genuine.. I may not agree with what he did, but he seemed genuine.” You respond, thinking back to your conversation with him. You had seen the desperation he had in his eyes, trying to get you to believe him. If he didn’t actually care about you, he wouldn’t have tried so hard.

“Oh? That's good.. Does your mom know?” “I haven't told her yet.” You reply with a small smile. For some reason, you decided to leave out the part where your dad told you the real reason why he left. You wanted to talk about it with your mom first before anyone else.

A few hours of hanging out passed by, and eventually Lucas got up to head out. It was kind of nice just talking to him for a while. You missed that.

After he was gone, you hesitantly gathered up the courage to walk into your mom’s room to speak with her about your dad.

“Hey Y/n, everything all right?” She smiled at you, knowing this meant you were ready to talk. You nodded. “Mom.. I met dad today at the car dealership. He works there.” 

Her smile drops.

“Y/n, come sit down.” She says, patting next to her on her bed. You walk in and take a seat next to her on the creaky mattress. “What happened? Did he say he was doing well? Did he recognize you?” “He actually asked how we were doing, and yeah, he did recognize me..” “Oh.. that's good.” 

You watch her reaction closely, trying to figure out if she was worrying about if your dad told you the real reason he left or not. Her expression was concerned.

“..He told me he left us because his soulmark changed.” You say, and your mom shuts her eyes as if she was experiencing the pain of abandonment all over again with what you just said. You place a hand over hers, full of pity. You weren't happy with her, but she didn't deserve to go through what she went through. Raising you all alone. It was obviously still affecting her to this day. 

“He told you about Melody's soulmark changing to match his, too, didn't he?” Your mom eventually asks, eyes still closed. “Yeah. Why didn't you tell me the truth? Maybe I would've hated dad less if I didn't think he abandoned us for no reason.” “Because it still wasn't right! When you marry someone, you're supposed to stick with them—” your mom starts yelling, but stops herself. Obviously, she also had a lot of pent up frustration about this whole thing too. It was understandable because she never talked about it until now.

“Why did you let him go then? I’m sure he would've stayed if you told him you still loved him!” “I let him go because I love him.” “Nah, mom, that's tacky- people don't actually do that, do they?” “It's what I did. Mainly because I didn't want to be cheated on.. so I just let him go and wished them both happiness.” Your mom shrugs with a sigh. You could see tears forming in her eyes, but she was too stubborn to let them fall. You two were alike in that way.. You got your stubbornness from her.

“I just wish you had told me what really happened from the beginning, mom.” “I couldn't! I couldn’t break your heart,” She shakes her head, finally looking at you. Her face looked so pained. “Could you imagine having to tell a little girl who still believes in fairy tales that her own father left his soulmate because it turned out he had another one? That’d ruin your dreams- you wouldn't have turned out to be the sweet, optimistic girl you are today.” She says, laying her hand on your cheek. 

“So, it was better for me to just believe he left us for no reason? It doesn’t make sense, mom.” “If I had told you life is random and full of crazy possibilities- that soulmarks don’t guarantee a life of happiness, you would’ve become a cold person. You would’ve become bitter, like I was at that time.. It took me years to find happiness again, yet even now, I still feel a wave of pain come over me when I think about your father.. I didn’t want that for you.” 

You saw her point, but you still didn't agree with what she did. “Well, you obviously don't know me as well as you think you do.” You say under your breath. “Maybe I used to be that way- naive and optimistic, but now I understand how the real world is. Life isn't fair.” You say bitterly, and your mom’s frown deepens. 

She couldn't protect you from the harshness of the world. She really tried her best, but she still failed. It wasn’t her fault.

“Nope, it's not.” She agrees, pulling you in for a hug. You start sniffling. “Mom, what if my soulmates mark changes? Or what if mine does? I don't wanna hurt anybody.” “Don't worry about that right now- you just focus on finding him.” “I said I don't want to find him.” You remind her, pulling away from the hug.

“Oh right.. you're scared of being abandoned like I was..” She nods, remembering your words from the day before. You still felt a bit guilty for wording things that way, but it was true. “I’m scared that if I find him and we end up together.. what if one day he just decides he actually doesn't love me, and just leaves? I wouldn't handle things as well as you did-” “Y/n, what happened with me and your dad is very rare.” She says, and you nod, just listening.

“You might regret never finding your person.. Even though he caused me so much pain, and caused you pain as well- I still don't regret meeting your father.” She admits with a shrug. “That's because you got me.” You smile, and she finally laughs.

“The point is, you have to take a chance with your heart sometimes. But i’m not gonna force you to find this guy. If you don't want to, that's completely fine with me- I just want you to make the right decision for yourself.” She says reassuringly. You nod, and get up to leave her room. 

“Maybe she's right.. I’ll never know unless I take a risk. And if I do end up getting hurt, I’ll just run back to the one who never abandoned me- her.”


	5. CHAPTER FIVE

The next day at school, you decided you wanted to find out for sure if you and Doyoung were soulmates. 

No matter how much you tried to dismiss the thought, the flash of neon green you saw on his wrist the week before kept reappearing in your mind. So you decided you’d ask him at the end of the day, instead of avoiding him- like you wanted to.

Around the last class of the day, Doyoung fell asleep- like he normally did, because the classwork was so easy and he always finished it early. There was this group of guys in his class who always made fun of him that saw this as a perfect opportunity to play a prank on him.

“Johnny, look who’s sleep.” Haechan says, pointing across the room at Doyoung. “We should draw on his face with a permanent marker or something,” Johnny suggests with a mischievous smile. “No- we should draw over his soulmark!” Taeyong says, and Yuta laughs, nodding in agreement. “That’d be hilarious,” he says, taking out some of his different colored sharpies. Yuta was a bit of an artíst, so he was always ready with the art supplies. 

There was a sub in today, and he had stopped caring about what the class did as soon as he finished handing out the packets. Now he was just absentmindedly scrolling through his phone at the teacher’s desk as the other students talked and did whatever they wanted, so the guys knew they’d definitely get away with this.

The guys walked over to Doyoung- who was still knocked out, even though it was pretty loud in the classroom. “Man, this guy can sleep through anything.” Johnny laughs. “Wait, let me test it.” Haechan says before drawing his hands back, and then swiftly bringing them together to clap into Doyoung’s ear. “Haechan! You’ll wake him up!” Taeyong complains, but he was wrong. He didn't even move. 

“..Are we sure he's even alive?” Taeyong jokes with raised eyebrows. 

Yuta picks up Doyoung’s left hand so they could see what his soulmark looked like before coloring over it. 

“Woah- his is neon green too, just like all of ours..” Yuta says, and the others are just as shocked. “What does that even mean?” Johnny wonders, and they all just shrug. Each of them had different marks, but they were all the same shade of neon green. It was almost like they were connected somehow..

That didn't stop them from drawing over Doyoung’s though.

They each took a turn, drawing on his wrist. They decided to turn the music notes into a purple devils face- kind of like the emoji. “Now this suits him.” Haechan laughs, and the others agree before sitting his hand back down and walking back to their desks.

This kind of stuff happened to Doyoung on the regular, but he didn't really mind. He didn't see it as bullying- more as them just joking around with him. He’d get over it.

After the last class finally ended, you went out to the area by the fountain, where you usually found Doyoung reading under a tree. 

He wasn't there today. 

“Hmm. That's odd,” You mutter to yourself, turning around. Then you see him. You both almost bumped into each other again, but this time you both stopped before that could happen. “Almost made it a third time,” you joked, and he gave a half-smile with a nod.

“I was looking for you.” You say, but he wasn’t really listening. He looked disheveled, like he was in a rush to be somewhere or something. “Oh, you were?” He eventually answers, fumbling around with his textbooks and things, looking for something. 

“Uh yeah.. is this a bad time to talk? I could just text you later..” “Are you asking for my number?” He asks. “No-” “Because I can’t even find my phone right now..”

You watched him continue fumbling around, looking for it, and offered to hold his things for him. “Thanks.” He said, dropping like 5 textbooks into your arms. “Oof-” you grunted, trying to hold them up. “You're way stronger than you look,” you laugh, already struggling to carry the textbooks.

As he searched his backpack and pockets for his phone, you noticed his left wrist. 

“Purple?? ..It's purple! I can't believe I really thought-” 

“Ugh, I can’t find it. I think I must've left it inside or something.” “Maybe I should call it, and if somebody found it they’ll pick up and tell us where to find them,” you suggest, and he nods, taking your phone and typing in his number.

As he holds the phone up to his ear and the number dials, you get a better look at his soulmark. “A devil?!” You gasp in shock. “What?” He furrowed his eyebrows at you. “Oh- nothing.” You quickly shake your head. After like 5 rings, someone finally picks up the phone. “Hello?” “Hey, who is this? I need my phone back- this is Doyoung.” “Yeah, I know who this is,” the high pitched voice on the other ends laughs.

Doyoung immediately recognizes the voice. “Haechan? How did you get my phone,” he rolls his eyes. “You were sleeping in class and didn't even notice me take it.” He teases. “Where are you? I need my phone back… Hello?” He takes the phone away from his ear to look at the screen. “The brat hung up on me.”

“You know who stole it though?” “Yeah, I know who did it.” He sighs, taking his books back and handing you your phone. “Do you need help getting it back?” You ask, but he shakes his head. “No, I’ll get it myself.” He says, walking off in the direction of the dorms. He seemed irritated today.

“I can't believe I actually thought I saw neon green on his wrist when it actually was dark purple!” You say to yourself as soon as he was gone, hitting yourself over the head with your hand. You were confused. You had been so sure you’d seen green that day. “I guess I just see what I wanna see sometimes..” You sigh, a bit disappointed. It would’ve been nice to not have to search too hard for your soulmate.. Even though you were wary to meet him, it eased your mind that he could’ve been right in front of you the whole time.

“I wonder why his soulmark is a devil though,” you wonder, concerned about what that said about his character.

You looked around to see where he went, and caught a glimpse of him turning a corner, and decided to follow after him. Even though he said he didn't need any help, you were still curious to see who stole his phone. Whoever it was seemed to annoy Doyoung a lot. You could tell by the look on his face.

You jogged across the grass to follow him and as soon as you caught up, you saw a group of guys sitting on the steps of the dorm entrances. “Ah, that explains it,” you nod to yourself. You recognized them from being in a few of your classes, but you’d never spoken to them before.

Doyoung was walking over to them.

“There's our bunny!” Johnny says with a big smile on his face. “Don't call me that.” “Why not? Don't you think the name is cute?” “Haechan, give me my phone back.” He says, reaching out for it. “Do you think he's seen his new soulmark yet?” Yuta whispers loud enough for only his friends to hear, and they all start laughing.

As you peeked around the tree you were hiding behind, you wondered if Doyoung really didn’t need help. To you, it looked like those guys were ganging up on him. “You want it? Go get it.” Haechan says, throwing it across the field. It landed on the pathway, a few feet away from where you were hiding, bouncing a few times before coming to a stop. “Oh no-” you winced, watching it slide across the ground.

Doyoung runs over to go pick it up.

“Oh, that’s cracked for sure..” Johnny makes a face. “That wasn't necessary, Haechan..” Taeyong says, raising an eyebrow. “Relax, it's not his actual phone- it's just the case. I wanted to see how he’d react.” Haechan replies, and the others nod, with an ‘oh’.

You turn your gaze from the guys, over to Doyoung, who looked like he was the one who’d just gotten broken. Which was understandable, because his phone was probably like part of his body- like phones were to everyone. He just stared down at it for a moment, but eventually realizes it was just the case.

“Oh man, I think he’s crying.” Johnny says, standing up. 

For some reason you suddenly felt the need to step in, so you walked around the tree you were hiding behind and approached them. “What is wrong with you guys? How could you just break his phone like that?” You ask, glaring at each and every one of them. 

You probably should’ve been intimidated to approach these guys- they were much bigger than you, but you didn't care.

“Relax Y/n, I didn't really throw the phone. It's right here.” Haechan chuckles, holding it up in front of your face. “Where did she even come from?” Yuta asks with a laugh, and you roll your eyes. You swung around to see Doyoung walking back over with an even more annoyed expression on his face than before. 

“So you’ve got her defending you now, huh? What, are you two soulmates or something?” Taeyong teases, leaning back onto his elbows.

Doyoung doesn't respond, but snatches his phone out of Haechan’s hand. “We’re not soulmates.” You say, shaking your head, thinking back to what his soulmark actually looked like when you’d caught a glance at it a few minutes ago. “But I couldn't just stand back and watch you guys bully him.” You cross your arms.

The others laugh, and Doyoung’s face heats up. “This is cute.” Johnny says, looking down at you. “Bunny’s got a little guardian angel.” “He doesn't even deserve one though, look at his wrist.” Yuta points out with a laugh. 

Doyoung finally notices it, raising his eyebrows. He assumed they did this too while he was sleeping. “You guys are pathetic. Ganging up on him like this—” “Y/n, it's not that serious. They're just joking around.” Doyoung says, to your surprise. 

You didn’t realize he dealt with this stuff all the time. He was used to it.

“Yeah, it's all just jokes.” Haechan smirks. “I said I didn't need your help, and I meant that.” Doyoung says, furrowing his eyebrows a bit. “Uh-oh, they’re fighting..” Johnny continues instigating. This whole thing was so entertaining to them.

You raise an eyebrow at Doyoung, as if to say ‘oh really?’, before shrugging and walking off. “Alright then.” You didn’t understand why he was annoyed that you had just tried to help. “Ooo, you better go after your friend. She seems mad.” Taeyong says, with a fake concerned look on his face. 

Doyoung frowns, turning around to see that you were already gone. “..I barely even know her.” He mutters, before walking past the guys to get to his own dorm room.

Doyoung immediately went to the bathroom to wash off what the guys drew on his arm, but it wouldn’t come off. “Of course,” he sighed, “They used permanent marker..” he made a face, turning the water off. 

It would come off eventually, but probably not for a while. As he was drying his arm off, he wondered if you’d seen his actual soulmark, or if you thought his was one that had been drawn on. 

“I don’t remember ever showing her my soulmark, so how could she know if we match or not--”

“Yo, dude! Hurry up in there, I gotta go!” Doyoung’s roommate- Mark, said as he started banging on the door.

…

When you got back to your car, you called your mom and told her everything. You felt like it was finally time to talk to her about this mess. You put the phone on speaker and talked to her the whole ride back home. 

You told her about Doyoung, and how you both were into music and had a talent for singing. You told her how you thought you two had the same soulmark, but how you turned out to be very wrong. 

You told her about how strange Lucas was acting a few days ago at the restaurant. 

You even told her how you were a bit disappointed Doyoung wasn’t the one after all. And she just listened to you intently, trying to figure out how to respond. 

By the time you’d finished telling her about everything, you’d arrived home, and she suggested continuing the conversation once you got inside.

“I’m glad you finally came to me about all of this, Y/n.. The thing that shocked me the most is how you said Lucas was acting the other day.” 

“I know right.. What if his soulmark changed to match mine? What if I was the one all along, and he just didn’t realize that yet?” “I.. don’t think you should worry about that. If it happens- it happens, and you’ll have to deal with it then, but most likely that won’t happen, because of how rare that is..” “I know.. I know.. It was just a thought.” 

“So this Doyoung guy.. Did you want him to be your soulmate? You said you were disappointed that it wasn’t him..” “I think I was just grateful to have found him- for the short time I thought he was my soulmate, and that we had something in common. I don’t think I actually like him..” You explain, and she nods. “I see..” 

Suddenly a text from your dad came in on your phone. 

Your mom saw the message too, as your phone lit up, and you quickly picked it up off the table. 

“Mom, is it alright if I go see dad for a few hours? ..He told me he wants to get to know me.” You hesitantly ask, studying her face to see if she looked okay with it. 

She didn’t. 

“If that’s what you want, then I don’t have a problem with it.” She says, contrary to what her facial expression was saying. “Are you sure?” “Yes, but just be careful, Y/n. I don’t want you to get too attached and then just end up getting hurt. Understand me?” She asks, and you nod. “I’ll be as cold towards him as possible,” you smile, and she laughs. You said it jokingly, but you meant it.

When you didn’t trust someone, your usual instinct was to just give them the cold shoulder. If they kept trying to speak to you- even after dealing with that, you knew they were genuine. 

You texted your dad that you were on your way, and he sent his address, so you could meet him there instead of at the dealership. 

It was only 20 minutes away. 

“My whole life he was only *20 minutes* away, and never thought to come check up on me?” 

You wanted to be happy that you were finally getting the chance to spend some time with him, but that one thought kept bugging you so much. 

“What if he has ulterior motives? If he wanted to get to know me so bad, he would’ve come and found me years ago..” 

“Maybe he’s just doing this out of guilt..”

The whole car ride over, you kept thinking up scenarios of how he could just be using you for something, but in the end you always came up with nothing. 

There was nothing you had that he needed.

There was no way he could take advantage of you. Maybe he really did just want to get to know you. You hit the steering wheel with your fist, frustrated you couldn’t come up with a reason to hate him- besides the fact that he left you, which he apologized for. He was simply just trying to make up for that now.

Before you left the house, you’d texted Lucas that you were going to meet up with your dad again, and he sent two thumbs up in support, saying to call him afterwards if you needed someone to talk to about it. Lucas grew up without his mother, so in a way he understood what you were going through, but your situation was still different from his. 

The GPS eventually failed you, dropping you off in the right neighborhood, but not showing you which house it was. It was a cute little neighborhood. The houses were well spread out, each had their own front and back yard. It was quiet.. And kid-friendly. It made you wonder how life would be like if you’d grown up here, instead of in a tiny apartment. 

Eventually, you found the right address, and parked in the long driveway. When you got out, you saw a basketball hoop, and a bunch of other toys in the yard. “Either they run a daycare, or they have kids..” you sighed to yourself, not prepared to (possibly) meet siblings at all. 

You hesitantly walked up the steps of the porch, and rang the doorbell. It was the kind with the camera on it, so you avoided looking at it because you knew they could see you. “Of course they have a Ring Doorbell.. This place is so boogie.” 

Almost immediately, the door swings open to reveal a blonde haired woman. “Hi! You must be Y/n, I’m Melody,” she hugs you, “I’ll call your father down. You can go wait in there,” she says with a friendly smile, gesturing to the huge room to the right.

You gave her a fake smile back, thanking her before slowly making your way into the living room. You wanted so much to hate the woman your dad left you and your mom for- you’d spent your whole life blaming her for what happened to your family, but she already seemed so nice that you just couldn’t. 

“Wow.. this place is pretty nice.” You said to yourself in awe, looking up at the ceiling, the furniture, everything- all the decorations, the wallpaper. Everything was just so nice. It looked like one of those model homes you visit, but never end up buying. “This place makes my house look like an unfinished basement.” You laugh to yourself, and hear someone chuckle behind you.

You swing around to see your dad had come into the room. “Hey Y/n,” he smiled, giving you a hug. Unlike with Melody, you actually hugged him back. “Hey dad. This house is so nice! This whole neighborhood is cute.” You say with a smile. “Yeah, it’s pretty comfortable here.” He nods, gesturing for you to sit down on the couch with him.

“So, I don’t know where to start-- um.. Just tell me about yourself.” He says, and his eyes light up as he says it. He seemed really genuine about this. You were trying to be skeptical of everything, but you decided to let your guard down just a little bit. You told him about your hobbies, things you liked to do with your friends. You told him about Lucas- since he was your only close friend. You told him how you and your mom spend the weekends playing board games every saturday night.

You told him a lot, and the whole time he just smiled and nodded, really listening. Eventually he told you a bit about himself, and turns out you both were alike. He was musically inclined as well, and could basically play every instrument out there. At one point, he took you into the basement (gorgeous looking room), so he could show you how well he was at playing pretty much everything. Any instrument you could think of was down there. There even was a recording studio.

It was a wonder he wasn’t famous yet, with all that talent. 

You didn’t want to admit it, but you were having a really great time here with him, and could definitely see this becoming a regular part of your life now.

It got late, and you told him your mom wanted you back before it got dark, so he walked you out to your car. Before you could leave, though, he asked you a serious question. “Y/n.. I want you to move in with us. We have an extra bedroom- it’s huge, you’d love it, and we really think it would be a great way for us to get to know you better. Is that.. Something you’d want?” He asks, a bit nervously.

You are so stunned that you can’t even answer. You end up just shaking your head, wide-eyed. “It’s okay- you don’t have to decide right now. Think it over. Discuss it with your mom, of course. I wouldn’t want her to think I’m taking you away from her.” “O-okay.. I’ll think it over.” You eventually stutter out, and he smiles. “Get home safe, okay? Text me when you get home.” He says, walking back onto the porch. 

He watches as you drive away before heading back into the house, and you feel like screaming. All sorts of thoughts were filling your mind- “What if I *do* move in with them? Will I have to transfer to some crazy private school? What if I end up being a burden to them? What will mom think? I can’t believe I’m even considering this. Will she think this is betrayal? I can’t abandon her like he did..”

You were so distracted that you didn’t even see the deer jump in front of your car.


	6. CHAPTER SIX

When you came to, you were laying flat on your back on a hard surface. It was a bit dark, and you’d temporarily forgotten what happened.

Immediately after you opened your eyes, you saw about three people who were wearing masks and scrubs hovering over you. You moved your hand up to your face and realized you were breathing into an oxygen mask. “What’s happening?” Your muffled voice said, “Where am I-- ouch-” You winced as a sharp pain rushed up your left shoulder as you tried to sit up. You reached over to grab hold of your shoulder, but one of the masked people held you down. “Try not to move, we’re almost at the hospital.” Just as you hear those words, the memory of crashing your car (again) returns. 

“Oh shoot.. Mom’s gonna kill me- we just got that car fixed..” You shut your eyes, in pain. During the ride to the hospital, the pain on the left side of your body was horrible. You couldn’t even move your hand. The nurses tried comforting you until you got checked in, but they couldn’t do much until then. “Try to stay calm.”

Once the ambulance arrived at the hospital and you were checked in, they gave you some pain meds and made you put on a hospital robe. Afterwards, they told you that they called your emergency contacts- which were you parents, and that they’d be arriving soon. “My parents? Both of them?” You looked at the nurse, full of concern. “Yes, both of them are listed as your emergency contacts, so we called them both. They should be here shortly.” The nurse replies, before leaving the room.

You heaved a heavy sigh, nervous about your parents seeing each other for the first time in 17 years. “How are they going to react?”

“This is all my fault..”

A few minutes later, a different nurse comes in and tells you your left wrist was broken, and that you’d have to wear a cast for possibly up to eight weeks, or longer. You knew that meant covering up your soulmark for weeks- which would make it even harder for your soulmate to find you, but you just shrugged it off.

You were just grateful, nothing worse had happened. The nurse also told you that the pain you were feeling in your left shoulder should go away within a week, but it happened because of the way you hit the steering wheel in the impact of the crash. The air bag was what broke your wrist, though. You nodded silently, just staring down at nothing in particular as you listened to her talk. You couldn’t believe you got into another crash this soon after just having gotten into one.

The last time wasn’t your fault, though, and thankfully your mom had been there to help with all the car insurance information and stuff (you were still learning about all that), but this time it was all you that was to blame. 

Well you and that deer you definitely killed.

...

Meanwhile, outside your room, in the waiting room, your father was pacing the halls. He had gotten here before your mother did because he was closer. The news panicked him so much that he didn’t even change out of his pajamas before hopping into his car and rushing down here. He was just getting to know you- he couldn’t lose you now. He nervously bit his nails, waiting for the nurse to come back out and let him know he could go in and see you now, but she didn’t come. 

He was getting impatient.

As he paced the brightly lit room, a male nurse came over and approached another family that was sitting in the waiting room, and told them they could go see their loved one now. Your father sighed, thinking the nurse was coming for him. “How much longer?” He mumbled, when all of a sudden, someone in front of him dropped their phone on the floor. He watched as the screen cracked on the tile.

“Bruce?” The woman’s shaky voice said. 

She sounded so familiar to him.

He slowly looked up and his eyes widened.

“Sandra?”

It hadn’t even occurred to him that she’d be here too-- but of course she would, she was your mother. It hit him how surprised she must’ve been to see him here too.

“Sandra-” he took a step closer, with his hand out to reach her, but she quickly took a step back, as if he were some stranger who wanted to hurt her. He saw the fear and pain in her eyes.

“I can’t do this,” Sandra shakes her head, turning a corner and walking down the hall. She didn’t go far, just to the other waiting room seats. She felt light-headed, and just needed to sit down for a moment. 

Sandra was so worried about you, but then got thrown for a whirlwind of emotions as soon as she saw her ex. It was all so unexpected.

She leant her elbow onto the wooden armrest of the cushioned chair, placing her fingertips on her temples. She closed her eyes, taking deep breaths. She felt like she was having a panic attack. 

Lucas had come in with her, but the nurse told them they’d have to wait outside in the waiting room as well until they were done working on your wrist. He could sense the negative tension from your parents as soon as they saw each other.

He bent down to pick up Sandra’s phone. It was pretty cracked up. “Are you… Are you Lucas?” Bruce asks, and he nods. “Yeah, how do you know me?” “Y/n talked alot about you..” He trails off, glancing around the corner, contemplating whether he should go check on Sandra or not. “Don’t.. I think she just needs some time to process, sir..” Lucas says, as if he was reading Bruce’s mind.

He nods slowly, walking over to one of the chairs to sit. Lucas sat in a chair a few down from him. “So did Y/n tell you much about me?” Bruce asks, trying to make conversation. On the outside he looked calm, but Lucas could still tell he was freaking out- his leg wouldn’t stop shaking. “She did.” Lucas says with a frown on his face. He had no respect for the man because of what he did to his family, but if you were going to give him a chance to make up for it, he figured he might as well try to get along with the guy. 

Lucas just knew if he were in your situation, and it was his mom trying to see him again, he wouldn’t want to. Bruce sighs with a nod, knowing that meant Lucas probably knew everything about how he abandoned his family and lost contact with them for years.

“Look man, i’m gonna go give this back to her,” Lucas says, holding up Sandra’s phone, before getting up and turning around the corner. Bruce just nodded and leaned back into his seat. He really wanted to talk to your mother too, but didn’t know what to even say to her. He was ashamed.

“Hey, you okay?” Lucas asks Sandra, who still had her eyes shut. She immediately looked up, and tried putting on a fake smile as she nodded. “Yeah.. I’m fine, thanks” she said (unconvincingly) as she took her broken phone back from him.

“It still works,” she said quietly, after checking if the phone would even turn on. Lucas takes a seat next to her, noticing the tear marks that had run down her cheeks. He didn’t say anything, but just placed a hand over hers. He didn’t know what he should say, but knew that she’d talk when she was ready.

“..Why now?” She finally asks. “Why- after all these years, has he suddenly popped up?” She squints, shaking her head, as if this were some kind of confusing math equation that she couldn’t solve. “Hasn’t he hurt Y/n and I enough? What more does he want?” She continued, starting to get choked up. Lucas leaned over the armrest and gave her a hug. He was like family to you and Sandra, and hated seeing her like this- in distress.

Sandra just shook in his arms, from all the sobbing. None of this made sense to her. She’d finally gotten to a place where she was at peace with what had happened, but then he shows up again- asking to get to know her daughter. Her daughter. You weren’t his. Bruce lost that right when he left you.

Bruce had been listening around the corner, and leaned his head back onto the wall as a tear slid down his own face as well. All that was heard was Sandra’s sobbing. He knew he caused this pain. Every major choice he’d made in his life, he regretted, but he didn’t regret anything more than leaving the two of you. 

He knew he belonged with his true soulmate, but he shouldn’t have cut you and your mother off. He should’ve stuck around, but he just thought it’d be too painful for Sandra to have to see him with another woman- which was true, but at least you’d have a father.

...

After getting the cast on (it was pink), the nurse said she’d go out and get your family so they could come see you. She also returned your original clothes to you before leaving. When you heard a knock on the door, you said they could come in, expecting to see your parents. But instead, it was Lucas who walked in.

“Lucas? What are you doing here?” He walked over to you with a concerned look on his face. He didn’t look at you, just the broken wrist. “I was with your mom when she got the call.. I wanted to see you just in case you wanted to talk about this whole ‘meeting you dad’ thing,” he trailed off. You gave him a small smile, realizing once again how considerate of a friend he was. It was really late now, and here he was- with you at the hospital on a school night. “..Hey, lighten up. I’m fine, okay? Really, I am,” you say, noticing how the worried expression wasn’t leaving his face.

“Can’t say the same for the deer that I hit though,” you joke, not even getting a laugh from him.

He finally looked you in the eyes. “Does it hurt?” “Yeah.. It hurts alot, but I’m strong enough to handle the pain,” you say, making a face, and he finally smiles a little. “Too bad they had to cover my soulmark though..” Lucas nods a bit, sitting down on your little bed next to you. “Where are my parents?” You ask, realizing they still hadn’t come in. Lucas bits his lip, as the concerned expression returns to his face, and you begin to worry something terrible had happened when they saw each other.

“Lucas? Are they here?” “...Your dad was here, but your mom told him to leave.. She said he didn’t deserve to see you.” Lucas answers hesitantly. Tears enter your eyes. You knew this wasn’t going to go well. “Where’s my mom?” “She went to speak to the nurses about the bill. She said she’ll be in here soon.” As soon as Lucas finishes, the door slowly swings open. “Y/n? How are you feeling?” She asks, hurrying over to you after shutting the door back. “I’m fine.” You said, avoiding eye contact.

You felt guilty about causing this whole mess in the first place. 

“What happened to your phone?” “Oh, um.. I dropped it,” she answers, glancing down at the cracks. She hadn’t even noticed that some of the glass had cut up her hand a bit.

Suddenly, a nurse knocks on the door and comes in to tell you how to take care of your cast, before they let you go. She says that you’ll have to come back in, next week to get the cast refitted because your hand was really swollen up when they put it on you, so the cast will become loose once the swelling goes down. The nurse also tells you that the pain should become less severe as each day goes by, and that raising the cast above your heart will help to relieve discomfort. 

You nod, only passively listening as she spoke. You were still so distracted, thinking about your parents. Your mind started wandering back to the reason you crashed in the first place. “Would you wanna move in with us?” Your dad’s words swam throughout your mind. You already knew how your mom would answer.

“And propping your arm up on a few pillows at night will be beneficial too, all right?” The nurse finally finishes, and you and your mother nod, thanking her before getting ready to leave. 

The whole ride home was silent. As soon as you got home, your mother kissed you on the forehead before heading off to sleep. You’d forgotten how late it was. Lucas hadn’t left yet, and was leaning on the wall. “You sure you’re okay, shorty?” He asks once more, and you nod with a slight smile. “I’m completely fine, besides this cast. Don’t worry about me.. Now go home and get some rest,” you say, pushing him towards the door. “I’m gonna carry all your textbooks and things until you get your cast off, okay? You won’t have to lift a finger, I’m gonna help you through this.” He promises, opening the front door. “My other arm still works, you know,” you laugh. “I’m serious, Y/n.” “..Okay. Thanks I guess..” “You don’t have to thank me, that’s what I’m here for.” He says, before lightly giving you a hug, so he wouldn’t hurt your shoulder or wrist. Then he stepped out to head to his truck.

His eyes were still so full of concern. He had been so worried when your mom got the call that you were in an accident. Both him and your parents felt like their hearts had stopped when they got the call. You didn’t even realize how loved you were until tonight. “I don’t deserve them..” You think to yourself about Lucas and your mother. 

You’d gotten a call from your dad earlier, but you didn’t want to answer it while your mom was still around, so you just texted him that you were fine, and you thanked him for coming even though he probably shouldn’t have.

Your mother had given you two extra fluffy pillows for you to rest your arm on in bed, (hopefully you wouldn’t accidentally kick them off the bed or anything). After you cut your light off and snuggled under your blankets, you just blankly stared up at the dark ceiling. You knew you wouldn’t get much sleep tonight, there was too much to think about. 

The next morning..

You overslept, but still decided to head to school instead of taking a sick day. You wanted life to continue on as normal, even though you had this new injury. Lucas had texted that he’d be the one picking you up and taking you to school now, so your mom wouldn’t have to do it. “He’s so helpful,” your mom smiled when you told her. Thankfully, you hadn’t overslept too much, but you still had to move quickly to get ready before Lucas arrived. 

Getting dressed and ready with an injured shoulder and a broken wrist was way harder than you’d expected it to be.

Your phone lit up.

It was Lucas saying he was outside. “Bye mom, he’s here!” You call out to her, before rushing out the door. As soon as Lucas sees you walk out of the building, he mentally kicks himself for not helping you with your books. He quickly hops out of the truck and runs over to you, taking everything out of your hands and opening the door for you. “Thanks,” you giggle, noticing how angsty he looked about forgetting to hold your things for you, but he doesn’t even smile back.

He seemed so tense these days.

At school, he said he’d walk you to every class, even though his own weren’t anywhere near yours, and you thanked him, once again trying to convince him that you didn’t need his help, but he insisted on it.

“Text me you schedule so I can just meet you outside of the classroom to hold your books for you.” He says, and you nod as he walks you into your first class.

The other students were loud and rowdy as usual- probably still talking about soulmarks and stuff like that. Once Lucas sat your things down on your desk, Aisha came up to you two, looking concerned. You were getting sick of seeing the pity on people’s faces when they saw your arm.

“Hey Y/n, what happened?” She asked, furrowing her eyebrows in concern. “I fractured my wrist- wait no, did the nurse say it was fractured, or broken? ..My mind is still a blur.” “Oh no, I’m sorry to hear that.. Hey Lucas,” she turns to greet him, and he nods. “I’ll be here as soon as I can to help you with your books, okay? Don’t try to pick them up yourself, just let me do it.” He says, and then dashes out before he’s late to his own class. You tried putting on a fake smile, but as soon as he left, you rolled your eyes. You really felt like he was baby-ing you for no reason-- you weren’t completely helpless, now that you were down an arm.

“Wow, you two would’ve made great soulmates. The way he takes care of you is so cute,” Aisha says with a smile. Doyoung, who had been reading when you two came in, looked up from his book when he heard that. “Ah- please don’t say stuff like that, I’m still trying to get over him,” you laugh a bit, and Aisha nods, understanding. After she walks over to her own desk, you hear a voice behind you ask “What happened to your hand?” 

You turned around in your seat to face Doyoung. He was so into the story he was reading that he hadn’t even heard when you said you broke it.

“Oh, you’re speaking to me? I thought you were still mad about how I tried to help you yesterday.” “I wasn’t mad- it’s just, ..I’m used to dealing with my problems alone.. I’m not used to someone trying to stick up for me. That’s never happened before- well not until you tried to,” he admits, and your annoyed expression fades away. “I see.. Well I’m the kind of person that tries to help someone if I can, no matter what.” “That’s pretty noble of you- I know if it were me, I probably wouldn’t have helped you.” “Why not? Because you’re scared of them?” He makes a face. “I told you- I don’t get scared easily.. I wouldn’t have helped because I’m the kind of person to just mind my own business and let people handle theirs.” 

You raise an eyebrow at him, thinking back to the purple soulmark you’d seen on his wrist the other day. “Maybe that explains it.” You didn’t really think so, but you were trying to figure out what was so bad about him for him to end up with that kind of soulmark.

“That’s interesting..”

Suddenly, your teacher slaps her desk with her ruler again, and class begins.

...

Just as he had promised, Lucas came back to carry your things for you to your next class. Doyoung notices this, realizing that you still didn’t tell him what happened to your hand. “I’ll ask her again later today,” he decided. Normally he wouldn’t have cared enough to ask, but for some reason, you just made him curious. 

It’s not even like you two were friends, but talking to you was usually the highlight of his day. 

Lucas carried your things for you all day, along with his own textbooks. This act of kindness was making it even harder for you to let go of your crush on him.

During lunch, you suggested something- “Why don’t I help you find your soulmate?” He had asked what you were doing later today, and this idea was what popped into your head. “Maybe helping him find his soulmate will help me get over him..” you shrug to yourself, knowing that it would definitely hurt once they found each other, but you had to let him go. Besides, there was somebody else out there for you. You just had to find him. “What? Why would you wanna help me do that? I’m not even looking..” “Why not? Because you’re still holding out hope that mine will change to match yours?” You joke with a flirty smile, but he just grins a bit, not really responding.

Normally he would’ve shut down your flirting right away, but he didn’t deny what you said this time. “I just don’t think that’s a good idea..” “Why not? It could be fun-” “But what about us?” He asks, finally looking you in the eyes. You raised your eyebrows, wondering what he meant by that. “What do you mean ‘what about us’? There is no us.. I’m not your soulmate, remember?” “I know that, but what if we do find mine and we don’t get to hang out as much anymore?” He says, scrunching his eyebrows up. He had a point. Once he got with his soulmate, she probably wouldn’t want him to hang out with you as much as he usually did. You sighed.

“You’re right. We won’t get to hang out as much, but you’ll have a new person in your life to fill that void, don’t worry about me.” The words hurt to say, but you wanted him to know everything would turn out okay and that he had nothing to worry about. “Change is a good thing sometimes.” You say, more to yourself, than to him. He nods, looking a bit more at ease now. “Okay then.. How do you think we should find her?” “Hmm.. I don’t really know- but one of my teachers always talks about how she searched for her soulmate for years, so she might have some ideas.” You suggest, and he nods with a shrug. After you finish eating your food, you head back down to your first class to see if the teacher is still there. 

She is.

“Ms. Thompson?” You knock on the open door, and she looks up from her sandwich. “Y/n? What do you need?” “Sorry for interrupting your lunch, but I just wanted to ask a question about finding soulmates..” You walk further into the room, towards her desk. She puts her sandwich down onto the paper spread it was wrapped in. “What do you wanna know?” “How can you find your soulmate? What did you do?” You ask, resting your right hand on her desk. “Hmm. Well, I did plenty of things- but you have to understand that technology wasn’t as advanced back then, so instead of telling you what I tried to do, I’ll just suggest to you this-” she says, leaning onto her elbows.

“Post your soulmark on instagram or something- spread it, send it around and ask people if they’ve seen anybody with that same soulmark. You should find him with no problem at all. The internet is a wonderful thing.” She says with a nod, picking her sandwich back up. Your eyes widen as you wonder why you hadn’t thought of that. “Thanks Ms. Thompson, but I was asking for a friend. I can’t even take a picture of my soulmark right now,” you give a bitter smile, raising your cast up for her to see, and she nods, making a face. 

“Have you ever thought of doing that yourself? The instagram thing.. Maybe your soulmate is still out there..” You suggest to her, and a look of deep thought comes across her face as she considers it. “Nah, my time has passed. If he wanted to be found, I would’ve found him by now,” she shakes her head with a shrug, looking unbothered. You were sorry for her, but at least she was at a point where she didn’t seem too affected by not being able to find him.

You leave, and meet Lucas at your next class since he still had your books. The rest of the day passes by eventually, and you get ready to head home with Lucas since you didn’t have to wait for your mom to pick you up anymore.

As you followed Lucas out to the parking lot, you heard footsteps running towards you. “Y/n!” You turned around to see who was calling, and to your surprise (and confusion), it was Doyoung. He had been looking for you all day. 

“Yeah?” You ask, furrowing your eyebrows. Lucas had stopped to see who was calling you too, and a frown came over his face when he saw who it was. “Hello,” Doyoung nods at Lucas, who just nods back. “Ms. Thompson said to give you this packet to study.” He says, holding the stapled papers out. “I can take that for you,” Lucas says, but you grab the packet before he can, holding it out of his reach. 

“It’s just a packet, Lucas! I can hold it myself,” you said, unable to contain your annoyance any longer. “Alright, alright.. well meet me at the truck,” he says before walking off towards it. 

“Seems like you don’t like it when people try to help you either.”

You turn back to face Doyoung with a glazed expression. You were losing interest in this conversation. 

He really was just using the packet as a front to come speak to you, though. “Is that all you wanted?” You ask, holding up the packet, and he shakes his head. 

“No, uh- you never told me what happened to your arm.” “Why do you care?” You ask him once again. It was like one moment he was acting friendly towards you, but then the next, he was acting cold.. you didn't understand what this even was.

You frequently thought back to the duet you’d sung with him at his job. How he told you not to be afraid and to just look at him. How he held your hand to make sure you knew you weren’t the only one up there on the stage. He had been so sweet that day.

But you also thought back to how he treated you yesterday. How he didn’t want your help. Maybe the problem was you getting offended too easily, but he wasn’t even your soulmate, so what was the point of continuing whatever this was?

“Unless he just really wants to be friends.. I don’t think he has many of those.”

He shrugged in reply to your question, with raised eyebrows. “I don’t know why I care, but I do..” You stare at him for a few moments before answering, “I crashed into a deer last night and broke my wrist due to the impact.” He gives you a shocked look. “Oh- seriously? That sounds bad-” “Please don’t look at me like that. I’m tired of all the looks of pity I’ve been getting- and it’s only day one of wearing this thing,” you scowled at your cast. 

“This look of pity isn’t for you,” “What?” “It’s for that poor deer you killed.” He jokes, and you raise your eyebrows, smacking him on the arm, with a smile. “Ow-” He pretends to be hurt, and you just shake your head, with a laugh. 

Finally someone wasn’t treating you like you’d lost the whole arm.

You knew Lucas was only acting that way because he was concerned, and you were grateful for him, but you missed the days when he could still joke about a terrible situation. These days he was too serious about everything.

“Hey, do you maybe wanna.. See a movie or something some time?” He suddenly asks, nervously rubbing his neck. You raise your eyebrows. “Doyoung, are you asking me out on a date?” You grin in shock, realizing this was probably the real reason he wanted to talk. 

You weren’t sure what you wanted the answer to be. 

“No- not at all. I meant as friends.. Because that’s what we are, right? ..Friends?” He asks questioningly, and you smile. 

He really did just want a friend. 

“Yeah, I guess we’re friends.” you nod. He wasn’t your soulmate, but you still wanted to see where this would go. “So what do you mean by ‘some time’? Do you want to go tomorrow?” “I actually can’t tomorrow- I promised my roommate I’d help him study, but how about over the weekend?” “Okay.. saturday?” You ask, wanting to know a specific day. “Saturday.” He nods, happily. “There’s that cute smile again.”

When you got back to Lucas’ truck, he still had a frown on his face. “Jeez, can’t he make any other facial expression then that?” “Y/n, do you like him?” Lucas asks out of the blue. “Wow, you’re blunt.” “Got that from hanging out with you so much.” He says, and you nod because it was true. 

“..I think I do.. but not in the way that I like you,” you smile, and his finally returns. “I finally got you to stop frowning!” You say victoriously, raising your hand and cast into the air. You immediately lowered your left arm back down, in pain because of your shoulder, though. “Be serious Y/n- you like Doyoung don’t you?” “I just said I do, but only as a friend. You have nothing you worry about,” you say jokingly once again, and he doesn’t respond, starting the truck. “He did ask me out to go to the movies with him though,” “What?” “Not like a date though,” you clarify, and you might’ve imagined it, but you thought you heard Lucas breath a sigh of relief when you said that.

“Are you jealous again?” “Of course I am, that’s our thing!” He finally jokes back. “You can come too if you want, I’m sure he wouldn’t mind.” “No way, I don’t want to be third wheeling on your date.” “It’s not a date!” you both end up laughing.

Eventually during the car ride back, you bring up the soulmate thing again, and tell him what Ms. Thompson suggested to do, and he nodded thinking it was a good idea too. “Y/n, are you sure you want me to find her?” Lucas asks once he’d parked the truck in front of your building. You hesitate to answer, thinking it over.

“All I want for Lucas is his happiness. And if that means finding his soulmate, then of course I’m sure..”

“I’m sure,” you nod with a small smile. You hoped you sounded convincing enough. “..Alright, then I’ll post a picture of my soulmark tonight and see what happens.”

You nod, looking away, wondering if you’d made the right decision.

Meanwhile, later in the day, at your dad’s house, he was waiting around for you to respond to his messages. He’d offered to pay for your hospital bill and to help pay for the damages to the car. You hadn’t answered back yet though, because you knew your mom probably wouldn’t be okay with that. She was very independent- as she also taught you to be, and wouldn’t want to be taking any favors from anyone- especially not him. 

“Why hasn’t she responded yet? It says she read the messages this morning..”

“Daddy? I have something to tell you..” A girl with long dark brown curly locks says, walking into his office. “Yes, sweety?” He replied, sitting his phone down, trying to hide his disappointment about you not texting back yet. “I found my soulmate!” She squealed, jumping into the air. 

Bruce smiled a bit sadly because he knew this was only the beginning of him losing his daughter. He didn’t wanna lose another one. “That’s great, Bella. How’d you find him? Does he go to your school?” “No, but the college he goes to isn’t far from here. Can I meet him, please?” “..I don’t see why not, but let’s talk it over with your mother first-” “I did already and she said she thinks it’s a good idea.” Isabella said, unable to contain her excitement.

She felt like a princess trapped in a castle, waiting for her prince charming to come and save her, and now she finally found him. Sure, on the outside it seemed like she had this perfect life- a nice house, a nice car, a nice family, but she always felt trapped here for some reason. She loved her family, but wanted something different now. She wanted something exciting. 

“Okay then.. When do you want to go meet him?” Her father asks.

“I don’t know, but I’ll text him and see when’s a good time for him.” She says, skipping off to her room. “I can’t believe I finally found him!” She yells, throwing herself onto her huge, fluffy bed. “Bella! Stop yelling about your stupid soulmate, I can’t hear my movie!” A high-pitched shout from the room across the hall said. 

“Just turn the movie up, Will!” She complained, walking over to shut her door. She may have loved her family, but her 5 year old brother got on her nerves sometimes. “Soon you’ll rescue me away from all of this so I can finally start my life..” She smiled, looking down at the bright red heart on her wrist.


	7. CHAPTER SEVEN

The rest of the week passed by pretty quickly. The nurse was right about your cast becoming loose, since the swelling in your hand and wrist finally went down- so you made an appointment to go back to see her so they could tighten it. Thankfully your shoulder was starting to hurt less as well. 

Every time you saw Doyoung in class, he seemed to act friendlier towards you, since you two were ‘friends’ now. “Are you looking forward to our date?” You joked, but he didn’t realize you were kidding and stared at you like you were crazy or something. “..It’s not a date-” “I was just kidding,” you raise your eyebrows. 

“Look, if you wanna be my friend, you need to be able to take a joke, okay?” “You’re so weird.” “I’m weird?” You laughed, when suddenly Ms. Thompson smacked your desk with her ruler to get your attention. Both you and Doyoung jumped.

This was how class went almost everyday now. You kept getting in trouble for talking, but it was kind of funny to you both- after she walked away, you’d joke about how her ruler was gonna snap one day.

Finally the end of the week came around, and Doyoung ended up coming by your house to pick you up. Since he had dialed his number into your phone that day Haechan stole his, you already had it, so you texted him yours, and sent him your address.

You were going to ask to borrow your mom’s car, but Doyoung said he could pick you up (which was probably a good thing, since your mom would’ve said no anyways).

When he arrived, you invited him in because your mom wanted to meet him. “Why does she wanna meet me? We’re just going to a movie..” He texted from his car, not wanting to get out. “Because she wants to meet my new boyfriend,” You joked, sending a heart emoji, and he immediately sent the emoji that was rolling its eyes, back. He eventually decided to come up and meet her though.

“Mom, this is my boyfriend, Doyoung. Doyoung, this is my favourite person in the world- also known as my mother.” You say, introducing them, after he walks in. He was wearing something different from his usual style that he wore to school. He had on a button down, long-sleeved polo with black jeans. It was a good look on him. “Boyfriend?” Your mom asks with a smirk, and Doyoung turns red. He hated when you joked like that. “Yes.. -With a space in between ‘boy’ and ‘friend’,” you clarify, laughing at the expression on Doyoung’s face. 

You’d decided your new favourite thing was to embarrass him.

“Nice to meet you, ma’am.” “Ma’am? Oh no, don’t call me that- makes me feel old. You can call me Sandra.” She chuckles. 

Their first time meeting each other didn’t go as awkwardly as you’d expected. 

As you dashed into your room to get your purse, you heard the two of them having a conversation about something random. You were glad that they seemed to get along. 

It was always a good sign whenever your mom liked someone- you always checked with her to see if she liked your friends because she was a pretty good judge of character. She was being friendly now, but you’d ask her what she really thought of Doyoung once you got back.

“I think your mom liked me.” He smiles as you’re on your way out of the apartment complex. “I hope she did.” You say honestly. “Hey, I noticed your dad wasn’t in any of the family pictures you had..” He asks once you’re in the car and driving off towards the movie theater, to your surprise. “That’s because he’s not part of my family.” You reply, and it goes silent. 

Doyoung grew up in a big family. All his cousins lived close by and they were all very tight-knit with each other, so he couldn’t even imagine what it’d be like growing up without a father. “He abandoned me as a kid- he left my mom because his soulmark changed to match someone else’s.. Someone who he had a history with, and I guess she was more important to him than us..”

You surprised your own self, telling him all this. He was still silent, not knowing how to respond. It was all pretty shocking. He’d expected you to say that your dad died when you were young or something, not this. This was complicated. What can you say to someone who’s experienced something crazy like this, except that you’re sorry? 

‘Sorry’ won’t make anything better.

“I can’t believe i’m telling you this- I never share personal stuff about myself with people I barely know. Aisha doesn’t even know this about me,” you laugh bitterly. “What is it about me that makes you wanna tell me all this? You didn’t have to answer my question..” “..I don’t know, I guess I just trust you,” you shrug, looking over at him. He just continued looking at the road. 

“Either that, or it’s because I know you won’t tell anybody because you have no friends,” you smile. He rolls his eyes, but grins too.

The movie was pretty stupid, but you didn’t feel like it was a waste of money because you and Doyoung were laughing and making jokes the whole time. There weren’t many people in the theater, so you two were talking as loud as you wanted to. It was kind of weird being here with somebody other than Lucas, but it was a nice change. 

Doyoung wasn’t so bad afterall. You smiled over at him during the movie, just thinking to yourself. “What?” He asked, noticing you staring at him. “Nothing.. You’re pretty handsome, you know that?” You say, and his eyes go wide. He wasn’t used to how blunt you were yet, and you started laughing. He looked away, toward the movie screen, but you could still see the shocked look on his face.

Every time you’d tell Lucas he was handsome, he’d just laugh it off since he was used to it, but with Doyoung you could actually get a reaction out of him and it was hilarious. 

Eventually the movie ended and he took you home. He parked and walked you up to your apartment, stopping at the door. “This was fun,” he smiles, looking down at you, and you nod, returning the smile. “Goodnight.” He says, turning to leave, but you stop him. You wanted to mess with him one more time before he left. 

“Wait!” “Hmm?” “You didn’t kiss me goodbye- don’t you know that’s how all first date’s end?” The shocked look returned to his face, but was replaced with a knowing smile. He was starting to catch onto your games. 

“Y/n, you are delusional.” “That’s actually not the first time somebody’s told me that.” You shrug with a laugh, remembering when Lucas said that to you- the day before soulmarks came in. Doyoung just snickers, shaking his head. He wasn’t surprised.

He actually did something to surprise you, though. He walked back over and placed a quick kiss on the top of your head. “Wh- I was just kidding! You didn’t have to--” “I wanted to.” He says, before heading out. You didn’t see his smile.

He wanted to throw you off this time. You’d been doing it to him all night and he figured it was his turn to be amused. “How’s he gonna say something like that and then just leave? The audacity..” You say to no one, closing your door back, wide-eyed.

You sighed, leaning back onto the door. “What did he mean by that..? ..Here I go, overthinking stuff again,” you say to yourself, knowing he was probably just kidding. But what if he wasn’t..

“What did he mean by what?” Your mom asked, turning a light on in the hallway. You jumped, not noticing she was standing there. “Jeez mom, you just gave me a heart attack.” You said, holding your heart with your good hand. She chuckles, sitting down on the couch, and you walk over and sit next to her.

“So~ what did you think of Doyoung?” “You mean your new boyfriend?” “Mom, I was just joking- don’t call him that.. only I can call him that.” “I’m not joking though, is he replacing Lucas?” “No!” You answered, but it was actually a legitimate question. 

Were you just befriending Doyoung so it’d hurt less when you lost Lucas? 

Even if you were, it would be pointless, because you’d just end up losing Doyoung too whenever he found his soulmate. “If he even cared enough to find her..”

“Alright, alright. No need to yell- it was just a question.” You mom raises her eyebrows with a slight smirk. “I think he’s nice, but that he’s hiding something.” “What??” “I’m joking, I’m joking. I think he’s a decent guy- I’ve only had one conversation with him, but he seems decent.” “That’s it? Just decent?” “Why, do you want something to be wrong with him?” “No, but..” You trail off, thinking about whether what she said was true or not- about you replacing Lucas with him.

Suddenly you remembered that you still hadn’t texted your dad back yet about him paying for the damages of your crash. You wanted to just say ‘yes’, and let him take care of everything, because money was tight for you and your mom sometimes- since she was self-employed. But you knew you mom wouldn’t allow it at all. You considered bringing it up now, but decided against it since she seemed to be in such a good mood. 

Now wasn’t the time.

You also wanted to ask her how she felt after seeing your dad for the first time in so long too, but you figured she’d tell you about it when she was ready, in her own time.

She places a hand on your back. “Why don’t you head on to bed? It’s pretty late.” She says, and you nod. Once you’re in your room, you get a text from Doyoung, saying that he made it back to the dorms. “Okay, but why are you telling me this?” you texted back, and he replied, “I thought you’d wanna know.” You contemplated asking if he really meant what he said about wanting to kiss you, but you decided not to. “He was definitely joking.. I think.” You say out loud to yourself, staring up at the ceiling.

You both texted back and forth for about an hour about nothing important, before deciding it was time to go to bed. Texting with one thumb was pretty tiring. 

You’d mentioned that you had to go back to the hospital to get your cast tightened, and he offered to go with you. You were about to decline and tell him your mom would take you, but you ended up just saying ‘ok’, and then you drifted off to sleep.

Maybe you were trying to replace Lucas with Doyoung..


	8. CHAPTER EIGHT

“Lucas, please- I can carry my phone by myself!” You complained, trying to snatch it back. He was holding it up out of your reach, and there was no way you’d be able to get it- jumping didn’t even help.

He was taking this ‘caretaker’ role too far.

“You’re already holding my books, why do you need to hold my phone too?” You yell, watching as a sly smile comes across his face all of a sudden.

He was joking.

“Here. Let’s go,” he says, handing you your phone back, before walking out of the apartment. You smiled and rolled your eyes. 

“Jerk.”

At school, before Lucas left after dropping your things off on your desk, Doyoung offered to carry your things for you, so he wouldn’t have to. 

“..That could work- most of your classes are closer to mine than his anyway,” you nod at Doyoung, but Lucas shakes his head. “Nah, I’ve got it.” He says, and you furrow your eyebrows at him. “Just let me carry them- it’s an inconvenience to you anyways.” Doyoung shrugs. “It’s not an inconvenience.. I don’t mind doing it.” Lucas says, crossing his arms.

“Or~ you could just let me carry my own things- since I still have this hand,” you interject, waving your right hand around. “No.” They both told you at the same time, giving each other weird looks afterwards. 

You rolled your eyes. 

You really didn’t see why they were making such a big fuss about this- you’d be totally fine without them, but they were acting like you were cripple or something. 

Eventually you convinced Lucas to let Doyoung carry your things for you to your afternoon classes, and he’d still carry them to your morning classes. He didn’t want to agree to it, but he was about to be late for his class and had to go, so he couldn’t argue about it any longer.

...

During lunch, you considered sitting with Doyoung, but he was nowhere to be found. “He must eat lunch outside, under that tree,” You figured.

“What are you thinking about?” Lucas asks, making you look up from the blank space on the table you’d been staring at. “Hmm? -You.” You answer. “I should’ve known you were gonna say that,” he shakes his head with a grin. 

“So how’d your date with Doyoung go the other day?” He asks, making you choke on your food. You’d forgotten you even told him about that. He laughed, reaching across the table to pat you on the back until you stopped choking. 

Sometimes your own jokes backfired.

“It was great- he even met my mom.” “Really?” He asked, and you nodded. “He never asked me out for a second date though, so maybe he doesn’t like me,” you shrug, playing along. “Was it more fun than when you used to go out with me?” He asks, and you just stare at your plate. 

“Enough about that- how’s the search for your soulmate going?” You quickly change the subject. “It’s been pretty crazy, actually.” He says, taking out his phone to show you something.

“As soon as I posted my soulmark, I got a bunch of DM’s from people that also have hearts for their soulmark, but none of them had the right color..” He says, scrolling through a ton of messages he’d gotten from a bunch of random girls.

You’d forgotten how popular he was, and that he was constantly being hit on. Of course people would jump at the chance to become his soulmate. It felt like he’d scrolled through a million messages from people sending him their soulmarks, before finally stopping at the top.

“I looked through every since one, but no one had the same shade of red as me- until the next day, when I checked my messages in the morning..” Lucas trails off.

“I found her.” He clicks on the top chat, showing you this girl named Isabella, who’d sent him a picture of her soulmark. 

You took the phone from his hands to get a closer look at the picture. 

You zoomed in on it, zoomed back out, flipped the phone upside-down. 

No matter how you looked at it, it was clear that this girl was Lucas’ soulmate. 

They had the same exact shade of bright red, and the same big heart. Their soulmarks were a perfect match.

Lucas watched as you studied the photo, trying to figure out what you were thinking.

You plastered a fake smile onto your face, handing the phone back to him, saying, “Wow. You actually found her.. That was quick.” He nods, with his eyebrows raised. You were happy for him, but it was bittersweet because you knew this meant you’d start seeing him less once those two got together.

“I know.. I’ll have to thank Ms. Thompson for the advice,” he says. “I don’t think that method would’ve worked for me.. I’m not as popular as you are,” you laugh bitterly, and Lucas pressed his lips into a thin line.

“So, when are you gonna meet her?” You ask, assuming they’d already planned that out. “This Saturday..” He answers. “Wow.. this is all happening so fast.” You think to yourself, nodding. “That’s nice..”

...

After lunch, you went to the bathroom, and Lucas told you he’d give your things to Doyoung, like he promised.

Lucas still wanted to carry your things himself, but he just went along with this since you insisted on it. “Here.” He said, handing your stuff over to Doyoung once he came in from outside. “Thanks-” He said, kind of struggling to hold your things along with his own textbooks and stuff.

As Lucas watched him struggle, he noticed that there was neon green on his wrist, under his sleeve. That same neon green color he’d seen on your wrist. 

“What?!” 

His eyes widened as he realized what he was seeing.

“Hey man, can I see your soulmark for a second?” Lucas asks, wanting to make sure he was seeing it right. Doyoung made a confused face before pulling down his sleeve for Lucas to see.

“Three neon green music notes! Just like Y/n’s… No way..”

“What? Have you seen my soulmate or something?” Doyoung asked jokingly, noticing the expression on Lucas’ face.

“..No.” Lucas hesitated to answer. 

He wasn’t sure why he didn’t just tell the truth.

Maybe he just wasn’t ready to let you go yet. If he lied, maybe he’d have more time..

“It’s just.. That color.” Lucas makes a face. “Oh, I know right.. I don’t like it either, but it is what it is,” Doyoung shrugs, walking off to drop your things off at your next class.

Lucas watched as he walked away with a deep frown on his face. He really couldn’t believe Doyoung was actually your soulmate- especially when you had been so adamant about telling him that he wasn’t.

“Maybe she doesn’t even know..” Lucas mutters to himself, definitely not planning on telling you. “..If she did know, she would’ve told me,” he concludes.

This whole soulmark thing was making him realize that maybe he did have feelings for you. Why else would he care so much?

…

“I’m going back to the hospital to get my cast tightened.” You answered. 

Lucas was asking what you were doing later today, wanting to ask if you wanted to see a movie or something. He wished things would go back to the way they were before you knew you two weren’t soulmates. 

Especially after what he saw today after lunch.

It just bothered him that you were supposed to be with another guy.

“Sounds fun,” He says jokingly, and you roll your eyes. “Can I come?” He asks, stepping up onto the curb and walking alongside you as you walked on the sidewalk. “Actually, Doyoung’s taking me.” You replied, and Lucas stopped in his tracks. The image of Doyoung’s soulmark flashed back into his mind again.

“Oh.” “Yeah.. And he’s also driving me home today, since my appointment is in a few hours, so you don’t have to take me, okay?” “..Alright.” He said, and you turned to look up at him, noticing the change in his voice. 

“You okay?” You ask him, when all of a sudden, Doyoung comes walking towards you guys. 

“Hey Y/n, my car’s this way,” he said, pointing across the parking lot, and you nodded. Lucas begrudgingly handed your things over to Doyoung before leaving you with him to head to his own truck. 

As you followed Doyoung to his car, you looked back at Lucas, wondering why he seemed down all of a sudden. “He was fine earlier today..”

Lucas was excited that he’d found his soulmate- he really wanted to believe what you said about change being a good thing, but he couldn’t stop thinking that- what if you were supposed to be the one. 

What if the soulmarks got it wrong?

He just felt like he was being replaced all of a sudden, and he hated it.

…

In the car, Doyoung asked what kind of music you listen to, and you said that you listen to everything. “Well- everything except country music.. Can’t stand that.” “Ugh, me neither,” he shudders, deciding to put on some R&B.

You didn't really listen to this genre that much, but it was nice.

“So, that thing you told me the other day- about your dad’s soulmark changing.. How is that even possible?” He asks curiously. This was the first time he’d ever shown any interest in something having to do with soulmarks and soulmates. 

You frowned, realizing that when you’d told him about this the other day- that you hadn’t given an actual explanation of what happened. 

“Well.. before my dad got his soulmark, he was dating this girl- Melody, and they’d been best friends for a while, so of course they were expecting to be each other's soulmates. But once the marks came in, and they’d matched up with different people, they broke up to be with their soulmates.” You say, and Doyoung nods, just listening. 

Already, this story was reminding him of how you and Lucas seemed to be.

He noticed how close you two were, but figured it was just a friendship.

“A few years had passed, and my parents got married and had me.. Soon after that, my dad said his soulmark had started to change. It started off as a red rose, but was changing into a pink one.. He later got a call from Melody, who’d said the same thing happened to her- that her mark had changed.. They matched each other now, like they probably should’ve from the beginning..” you trailed off, leaning onto your elbow as you stared blankly out of the window.

“What happened with your mom’s soulmark? Did she match up with Melody’s old soulmate- or?” “...No. Her’s disappeared.” You said in a somber tone, with a sigh. 

Doyoung’s eyebrows raised in shock. He had never heard of this happening before. It sounded crazy.

“That’s crazy..” “Yup. But it’s my life.. We deal with it,” you shrug, turning the music up- to indicate that you didn’t want to talk about this anymore. 

Doyoung took the hint and didn’t ask anymore questions about it.

Once you were home, he left your books and things in your room for you, and your mom offered to pay him gas money for taking you to your appointment. “I can’t accept that,” he shakes his head with a small smile. “Why not? I insist.” Your mom said, trying one more time to hand the money to him, but he refused to take it.

“Mom, he’s just doing what boyfriends ought to do, you don’t need to pay him,” you say with a sly smile. As expected, Doyoung blushed, rolling his eyes at you. “Alright, but I’ll find a different way to repay you,” she promises, thinking of inviting him back for dinner sometime or something like that. Doyoung nods, catching a glimpse of her left wrist as she moved her hair out of her eyes.

It really was blank. As if the soulmark were never there.

“How tragic..”

“Come on- we’ll be late if we don’t leave now!” You say, hurrying to the door, and you both head out to the appointment.

…

“Should I wait outside until this is done, or?” Doyoung asks, but the nurse responds with a shake of her head. “No, you can stay in here if you want. This won’t take too long.” He nods, walking across the room to sit in the chair that was in the corner.

“You brought that book?” You say, knitting your eyebrows together as he started reading. “Of course,” he replies, not even looking up from it. You smirk, before looking around the room at anything else- trying to get your mind off of the pain. 

At least your shoulder had stopped hurting.

You squirmed around in pain as the nurses worked on your cast. They ended up taking it off of you, and leaving to get a new one. 

“You okay over there?” Doyoung asks, noticing you seemed to be in pain. “Oh yeah- I feel great,” you say sarcastically, with a strained voice. He walks over, not sure how to comfort you. He’d never broken a bone in his life, so he had no idea how much pain you were in. Your wrist still looked pretty discolored from all the bruising. 

“Ew- that’s disgusting.” He says, catching a glimpse of it, and you give him an annoyed look. “Sorry,” he laughs. 

“My soulmark looks all discolored now!” You complain, seeing it for the first time in days. You couldn’t bring yourself to look at your wrist ever since it broke, because you thought the pain would amplify if you actually saw how bad it looked.

Doyoung nodded, taking a closer look at it.

“Wait.. are those-?”

“Okay Y/n, we have a new cast for you.. We got neon green to match your soulmark,” One of the nurses says with a smile as they walked back in. “Oh, how funny,” you said dryly at their sense of humor.

You didn’t notice how Doyoung’s mouth gaped open when he heard that. 

“Y/n and I are soulmates?!”

He realized, making the connection that that was why Lucas had that look of familiarity on his face when he saw his soulmark earlier today. 

“So he *did* recognize it.. Why didn’t he tell me?” He wondered to himself, before looking down at you. You smiled back up at him, not sure why he was staring.

He figured that you must not know about the soulmarks either. 

Before telling you, he decided that he wanted to speak to Lucas about something he’d been wondering about for a long time. 

“Does he like her? Is that why he didn’t say anything about it..?”

“All done!” The nurse said, and you could finally breathe again. It was so painful, but now it was over at least. “Let’s go,” you smiled up at Doyoung, and he slowly nodded- still deep in thought.

…

When you got back home, the sun was starting to set.

“So when is our next date?” You ask before getting out of the car. Now that he knew you two actually were soulmates, the jokes weren’t even funny to him. “..Uh- I don’t know, I’ll text you..” he says, sounding spaced out. You made a face, but then got out and left. “I wonder what’s up with him all of a sudden,” you shrug, walking up the steps to your apartment.

“Oh my- that was nice of them to give you a cast to match your soulmark.” Your mom says with raised eyebrows once she sees you walk in, and you roll your eyes. “They were trying to be funny,” you reply, “Who even knew casts come in this color.” You laugh.

“So, how was your day?” “..Normal, besides the fact that Lucas told me that he found his soulmate today.” Your mom’s eyebrows raise. “He did?” “Yup.” “Wow, that’s great.. So when do you plan on finding yours?” “Sometime after I get this cast off,” you say, waving it around. It annoyed you so much, but you decided to just be patient and wait for your wrist to heal before worrying about all the soulmate stuff again.

It was kind of nice not having to worry about it anyways.

…

In your room, you were mindlessly scrolling on instagram, when you’d come across Lucas’ post of his soulmark. You hesitated, but then pressed on the ‘likes’, and sure enough, that girl- Isabella had liked the photo. 

“Should I insta-stalk her…? ..I probably shouldn’t..” You say to yourself, eventually clicking on her name anyways.

Her account was private, but you saw that Lucas followed her.

“..Dang, she’s pretty too..” You realize, just from seeing her profile picture.

So far, you counted that she had two advantages over you- she was probably a model, and she was his soulmate.

You still had one advantage over her, though- you’d known Lucas longer and already had some sort of relationship with him. Even if you two were just friends..

You shut off your phone and sat it beside you on your bed, with a sigh, staring up at the ceiling. Suddenly, there’s a knock at your door, and you hear your mother’s voice asking if she can come in.

“Yeah, you can come in..” “I was thinking.. And I probably was too harsh on your dad the other day at the hospital..” She trails off, taking a seat next to you, at the end of your bed. “I probably should’ve let him see you.. I was just hurt that day.. Hurt that he’d shown up to see you, but not one day over the past 17 years has he come to see me..” she mumbles.

“I’m sorry, that seems selfish of me to say, but-” “No, I get it. He really messed up.. He clearly wants to make up for it, though, because he texted me last week, asking to pay for my medical bill, and for the damages to the car..” “He did what?” “Mom, ..I think we should let him—” “No way! I don’t want him to think we owe him anything- and if we let him help pay, that’s exactly what he’ll think!” Your mom yells. “Does he really think he can just pay all our problems away? Does he think money will make up for all that he’s done to us?!” She continues ranting on, and you decide not to press any further about this. 

You knew she’d react this way, but you had to bring it up at some point.

“The car situation is being handled, our insurance covered everything. Tell him not to worry about it..” She says in a calmer tone. And with that, she leaves your room.

You sigh, picking up your phone again, to text your dad.

He replies rather quickly, asking if you were sure that you didn’t want his help paying, and you said you were. Then he said ‘ok’, and asked when the next time you could come visit him again would be.

You told him you weren’t sure yet, but you’d check with your mom to see if this Saturday would be okay.

“Speaking of your mom.. Is she okay?” He texts back, and you frown. He must’ve been thinking about that night at the hospital. “She’s fine.” You reply back without giving any more details. 

Eventually you told him ‘goodnight’, and drifted off to sleep.

Everything this year seemed to be changing… 

You weren’t sure if you liked it.


	9. CHAPTER NINE

It was early friday morning, (still dark out), and it had been a few days since Doyoung found out he and you were soulmates. He was still deciding whether he should tell you or not. 

You said you were trying to move on, but Doyoung was pretty sure you still liked Lucas- which was why he thought he shouldn’t tell you about how you were sUpPoSeD tO bE WiTh hiM.

When he got up out of bed to head to the bathroom, he noticed something strange.

His soulmark was gone.

“What the..?”

He brushed his thumb over the spot on his wrist where it was- as if that would bring it back, but of course- nothing happened. 

He anxiously ran a hand through his hair, worrying about what happened to it, when all of a sudden his phone started going off. It was you calling.

“Y/n?”

“Doyoung- you’ll never guess what happened!” You sounded excited.

“What?” He asked apprehensively, wondering if it had anything to do with his own situation. He was already thinking of your mom, and the reason her soulmark disappeared, figuring the same thing was happening to him. “My soulmark changed! It matches Lucas’ now! I knew we were meant to be together- I just can’t believe it took this long to happen!” 

Doyoung’s eyes go wide as he realizes that this really is why his disappeared. It was what he expected you to say, but actually hearing it was still shocking.

He didn’t even know how to respond, so he just stood there in shock. 

His hand that was holding the phone to his ear started trembling.

“It’s not fair-”

“What’s not fair? ..Aren’t you happy for me?” You ask, sounding confused. He was the one, afterall, who’d encouraged you to be with Lucas anyway- even if he wasn’t your soulmate. 

And now he actually was. 

Doyoung sat the phone down on his nightstand and just stared with wide eyes at his blank wrist.

It wasn’t fair.

He hadn’t even gotten a chance to tell you that you two were soulmates yet- and now this happened.

“DoYoUnG..?”

…

He woke up in a cold sweat, frantically heaving for air. “It was just a dream..” He realized, running a hand through his messy hair as he sat up. 

He immediately threw the covers off and ran through the dark hallway into the bathroom and turned on the lights, to see if his soulmark was still there, and thankfully it was. 

“Phew,” he breathed a sigh of relief, seeing the neon green music notes were still there as usual. “I should’ve known it was just a dream.. She still has a cast on.” He remembers, placing a hand over his forehead. 

Doyoung wasn’t sure why he suddenly cared so much about still having the soulmark. Before he met you, he could have cared less if it disappeared. 

“..Oh no- do I like her..?” he mumbles to himself, concluding that that could be the only explanation for why he cared so much.

“Like who?” A voice came from the hallway. It was Mark, his roommate, who was walking by to get to the kitchen for a snack. It was 4 in the morning, yet he was still up for some reason.

“My soulmate.” 

“Your soulmate? Why are you shocked that you like your soulmate? You’re supposed to like her,” Mark laughs, not understanding what the problem was.

“I don’t know.. I guess I’m just worried she likes somebody else.” Doyoung admits, shutting the light off in the bathroom. “Hmm?” Mark looks at him in confusion. “My soulmate.. her parents broke up because her dad’s soulmark changed.. and I had a dream that the same thing happened with her, and that my own soulmark disappeared. I know it sounds crazy, but what if that does end up happening? It happened with her dad- it can happen to her too.” Doyoung says uneasily, taking a seat on the couch, leaning his elbows onto his knees and burying his face in his hands. Mark nodded, contemplating how to respond.

“I don’t know man, that seems pretty rare.. I’ve literally never heard of that happening before. You should worry about it,” he shrugs. “Who is she anyways?” “None of your business.” “Come on man, can I at least get a hint?” “..She goes to this school--” “Sejeong! Is it Sejeong? -That girl you did a duet with a few years ago?” Mark guesses, eagerly. “No.” “Dang.. I can’t think of anyone else.” 

“It doesn’t matter who she is, because I decided I’m not gonna tell her we’re soulmates..” Doyoung says with a frown. “What? But didn’t you just say you like her?” Mark asks, and Doyoung cringes because he hated that Mark had found out he liked somebody. 

“..I think she likes her best friend, and I can’t compete with that- so what’s the point of even trying?” 

Mark grabs a box of cereal and takes it to the head, munching on a mouthful of it. “Dude, you gotta tell her,” he says with a muffled voice. 

Doyoung is silent for a moment, thinking back to the day after soulmarks came in- when you’d told him the soulmark you got wasn’t the one you wanted.

“She wouldn’t even want me if she knew..”

“I don’t think I will..” He shakes his head. “But it’s the right thing to do, man. Wouldn’t you wanna know, if the roles were reversed?” Mark persists, (still with a mouthful of cereal).

Doyoung nods, agreeing that it probably would be the right thing to do, but he still decided he wasn’t gonna tell you. Well at least not until he confronted Lucas about it. He wanted to find out if the reason Lucas lied about not recognizing the soulmark, was because he likes you.

Doyoung knew if Lucas did admit to liking you that he probably wouldn’t stand a chance. In the end, you’d always end up choosing him.

…

Doyoung didn’t get that much sleep after his conversation with Mark, but he slept in like every class, so that made up for it.

You had to stay on campus for a few hours after classes ended because you were on the planning committee for the End of the Year dance, but once that meeting ended, you headed out by the fountain to see if Doyoung wanted to hang out for a bit.

You still had a couple hours before Lucas came by to take you home. 

When you got to his usual spot- under the tree, he was reading that same book, (of course). You wanted to get his attention, so you snuck behind the tree, then reached around it and snatched the book out of his hand. “Woah-” he gasped, not knowing who was back there. “I thought you said you don’t get scared,” you giggle, coming out from behind the tree. You just wouldn’t let go that he had said that. 

He gives you an annoyed look after breathing a sigh of relief that it was just you, and not some murderer- like the one he was reading about in the book. 

“Can I have the book back?” “Why? I wanna hang out,” you pout, and his expression softens. “What do you wanna do?” “..What if we dance? —Like practice slow dancing,” you suggest with a smile, but Doyoung looks at you in confusion. 

“I’m on the ‘End of the Year’ dance committee,” you explain, and he nods, with an ‘oh’. “I’m in charge of the music, so I wanna try out some different songs that everyone would wanna dance to.. I would ask Lucas for help, but I don’t want him to think I’m still trying to hit on him or anything,” you sigh. Doyoung nods, staring into space, thinking about something.

“Hey, you ok? You kinda went somewhere..” You ask, noticing he seemed quieter than usual. 

“Huh? —Yeah, no, I’m fine.. Let me go get my speaker from my dorm- that’ll be better than playing the music from your phone,” he suggests. You agree, asking if you could come, and he nods. 

...

“Oh hey, Y/n- I didn’t know you and Doyoung were friends,” Mark smiles as soon as you two walk in, not making the connection that you were the girl Doyoung was talking about this morning.

“Everyone says that,” you laugh, and Doyoung rolls his eyes, heading into his room for the speaker.

His room was a bit disorganized, so it was probably gonna take a minute to find it.

“Oh man, what happened to your hand?” Mark winces, noticing your cast. “Ran into a buck and the airbag broke my wrist,” you reply with a sigh. “Ooo- sounds painful,” Mark makes a face. “It was.” You nod, furrowing your eyebrows.

“Hey- you wouldn’t happen to know who Doyoung’s soulmate is, would you?” Mark suddenly asks. He’d been trying to figure it out all day, and thought maybe you’d know, since you two were friends. 

Mark always noticed you and Lucas hanging out all the time, so he figured you two were soulmates- which was why it never occurred to him that you were actually the one he was asking about.

You raise your eyebrows.

You hadn’t even thought about who it could be— besides that brief time you thought it was you. 

You shake your head with a shrug.

“Why?” You ask, leaning onto the counter top. “He had this crazy dream about her last night, and won’t tell me who she is.” Mark says, to your surprise. “He knows who his soulmate is?” You ask in shock. You wondered why he didn’t mention anything about that, but then remembered it was Doyoung you were talking about.

He didn’t care about soulmates.

“I forgot..” you smirk to yourself, shaking your head.

“Yeah, he knows who she is, but he said he won’t tell her they’re soulmates because he’s scared she likes her best f—”

“—I’ve got the speaker, let’s go,” Doyoung abruptly interrupts, placing his hands on your shoulders, walking you out the door.

It took him forever to find that little speaker, and he was shocked to hear your conversation with Mark when he came out of his room. “This is why I shouldn’t have said anything.” He sets his jaw, shutting the door behind you two.

“I wonder what that was about,” you say to yourself, raising an eyebrow.

…

“I like this song.. This’ll be a good one for the dance. I’ll add it to the playlist,” you say, picking up your phone.

An hour of you two dancing in the grass had gone by, as you tried out songs for the dance playlist. So far there were only 10 songs on there, but you needed to have more than that for the dance.

“Can we stop yet? I’m tired,” Doyoung complained, leaning against the tree, and you laughed. 

“I should be the one complaining, after all the times you stepped on my feet,” you shake your head, with a smile. It was like he had two left feet when it came to slow dancing. 

“How about one more song?” You say, walking up to him. “Fine, but let’s take a break first,” he says, sprawling out across the grass. You sit down and lean against the tree, next to him.

The wind had started to blow, creating a nice cool breeze, as the sun began setting. It was a nice day to be outside.

“Y/n?” Doyoung asks all of a sudden, interrupting the silence, still laying flat on his back, looking up at the sky. “Yeah?” “..If you ever find your soulmate.. Would you wanna be with him, or are you still hung up on Lucas?” He asks, to your surprise.

“That’s a good question..” you scrunch up your eyebrows, really thinking about it.

You did still like Lucas, but you were trying to let him go, so he could be with his actual soulmate. “I think part of me will always love Lucas..” you say, and Doyoung isn’t surprised. 

“But I’d be willing to try and be with my soulmate if I ever find him,” you shrug, not understanding the sudden interest he had about soulmates. 

Normally, he wouldn’t have cared enough to ask.

“I am a bit scared to find him though, because of the whole ‘soulmark being able to change’ thing being a possibility.. I don’t wanna get hurt, and I don’t want to hurt anybody if it’s mine that changes,” you add, and Doyoung clenches his jaw, flashing back to his dream- where you’d told him your mark changed to match Lucas’.

“What if Lucas likes you back? Who would you choose? --Him or your soulmate?” He asks, still looking up at the sky, and you give him a confused look, but answer anyway. 

“Lucas.. Definitely.” You say confidently, and Doyoung shuts his eyes. That really wasn’t the answer he wanted to hear. “I mean.. I’ve known him for longer- and I’ve loved him for as long as I can remember.. But, I don’t think that’ll ever happen. I’ve already been rejected so many times by that boy,” you laugh bitterly. “He made it clear that he doesn’t like me like that.”

Doyoung covered his face with his hand, trying to hide his expression. He should’ve expected you to answer that way, but it still hurt to hear.

“My soulmate is in love with somebody else- why is this my life?”

You really didn’t understand why he was asking so many questions about a subject he originally had no interest in, but then you decided to ask him something.

“Why don’t you tell your own person that you two are soulmates?” You ask, bringing your knees to your chest. 

Doyoung lifts his head up to give you a shocked look. “—Mark told me you don’t wanna tell her.” You explain, and his lips flatten into a straight line. “I know it’s your decision whether or not to tell her, but I just know if it were me- I’d wanna know.” You say, and Doyoung lets his head fall back down onto the grass.

“But you like the other guy. How can I tell you, only to get rejected?”

When he doesn’t answer, you just continue rambling on, “Every since I got this cast on and had to cover up my soulmark, I stopped caring so much about my soulmate coming to find me.. If he does, he does, but if he doesn’t.. oh well. I don’t really care anymore,” you shrug, reflecting the way Doyoung used to see things before he realized he liked you. 

You really just wanted to focus on yourself while you still had this cast on, before focusing on being in a relationship.. Those obviously take a lot of work.

He is still silent.

“Sometime I still wonder what he’ll look like, though. Probably tall, handsome.. funny, with a deep voice,” you say, describing what you pictured. “Sounds like you're describing Lucas..” Doyoung rolls his eyes, (you didn’t notice though), looking away from you. 

“Yeah, maybe I am,” you laugh, realizing he was right. 

“But why did you ask all of that? I thought you said you didn’t care..?” “Well maybe I do now..” He replies vaguely, and you give him another confused look.

“Let’s play the last song,” he says, getting up- changing the subject before you could ask what he meant by that.

...

“You really can’t dance,” you laugh. 

The song was only seconds in, and he was already struggling with the moves. 

You were glad that awkward conversation about soulmates had finally ended. It was so weird and out of character for him to initiate a conversation about that kind of thing, but you realized it must’ve been on his mind because of the dream Mark told you he’d had. 

You were just as curious as Mark was about who his soulmate was, but you decided not to ask about it..

“I can dance- just not this type of music,” he says defensively.

Lucas had finally come back to pick you up, and was looking for you in the school but couldn’t find you anywhere. When he finally came back outside, he noticed you and Doyoung dancing under the trees. “What in the world are they doing?” He scrunched his eyebrows up. 

As he approached you two, getting closer, he could hear the music and figured you were doing something ‘End of the Year dance’ related. 

“Oh, hey Lucas- when’d you get here?” You ask, immediately letting go of Doyoung and walking over to him. “I just got here, you ready to go?” He asks, but before you can answer, your phone starts ringing. “I’ll be right back, I gotta take this,” you say, picking your phone up off the ground and walking off to answer the call. It was your mom.

Both Doyoung and Lucas watched as you walked off, before turning to face each other. Doyoung saw this as the perfect opportunity to finally ask what he’d been wondering for a while now- if Lucas liked you.

“Why didn’t you tell me Y/n and I are soulmates?” He asks, getting straight to the point, and Lucas frowns.

“Wait- you know?” “I found out when I went with her to get her cast changed.” Doyoung responds, and Lucas nods. “The same day I found out.. Did you tell her?” Lucas asks with furrowed eyebrows, but Doyoung shakes his head. “Not yet.. Why didn’t you say something?” Doyoung asks again. He really wanted to know if he should be worried about having to compete with him or not. 

Lucas doesn’t respond, but instead looks elsewhere, with downcast eyes- like he was ashamed or something.

“..Do you like her?”

Lucas turns back to face him with a scowl. “We’re only friends.. In fact, I’m meeting my actual soulmate tomorrow,” He says, trying to sound like he meant that, yet Doyoung is not convinced. He skeptically raises an eyebrow at him, trying to read his expression. 

The soulmate thing was really what made Lucas realize he wanted to be with you- he couldn’t imagine you with anybody other than him, but he didn't want to tell Doyoung that.

You finally came walking back over, after hanging up with your mom. She was just calling to let you know that she thought it over- and she was okay with you going to visit your dad again on Saturday. She admitted she was overreacting that day you told her that he’d offered to pay for the damages of your accident, and she apologized for blowing up about it.

When you got back, you noticed Lucas and Doyoung’s scowls, wondering what they were talking about when you were gone, giving them both weird looks. 

“I’m ready to go,” you say to Lucas, before turning to thank Doyoung for helping out with the playlist for the dance, and giving him a hug. Lucas saw, but looked away. He didn’t like that you were trying to replace him with Doyoung.

You never said that’s what you were doing, but that’s what it seemed like to him.

…

After Lucas dropped you off at home, you got a text from Doyoung saying that Mark told him to tell you that Johnny’s having a party at his house on Sunday, and that everyone from school is invited. “ooo, sounds fun.. are we going?” you text back, and he says he’ll go if you go.

...

Somehow, you two had ended up talking about Lucas again, and you told Doyoung that you weren’t over him yet, but that you were trying to be okay with him going to meet his soulmate tomorrow.

“Do you wanna hang out tomorrow, to get your mind off of that? I have work, but we could do something afterwards,” he texts back. You let him know he was sweet for suggesting that, but that you’d already made plans to visit your dad tomorrow.

Hopefully that’ll go well. 

…

The next day, you woke up later than you usually did, and hung out with your mom a bit before going over to your dad’s house to visit again.

When you got to his house, immediately after walking in, you smelled popcorn and pizza. 

Your dad welcomed you in, gently giving you a hug, like you were made of glass or something. 

You noticed his concerned glance looking down at your cast, and you realized this was the first time he was seeing it. “You know you can give me a real hug, right? It won’t hurt my wrist,” you laugh, and he nods, trying to put a smile on his face.

“I bought a movie!” Your father says excitedly. It was a thriller. “We even have the same taste in entertainment,” you smiled to yourself, taking a seat next to him on the couch. 

The movie was so predictable, as most thrillers are, but you and your dad still had fun watching it- guessing the entire plot right as it happened.

There was something simple about movies- there was a problem, a solution, a challenge to get to the solution, and then the conclusion. No irregularities. Most movies followed this formula. If only life were that simple.

...

Meanwhile, Isabella was out with Lucas at a cafe, meeting him for the first time.

“You’re even more handsome in person,” she gushed, and Lucas gave a small smile. “That’s something Y/n would say..” He thought to himself, unable to get you off of his mind.

“I know.” He replies, and she laughs, taking her seat across from him at the little table.

Lucas didn't really wanna meet her, but you’d convinced him that ‘change was good’, and to just give her a chance before writing her off.

That's what this was- a chance.

“So, I know we literally just met, but something’s been bugging me, and I have to ask about it,” Isabella says, taking out her phone.

She turns it around to show Lucas a picture of you and him that you had posted about a year ago. It was from that day trip you’d taken to the beach, he fondly remembered. You were kissing him on the cheek in the picture.

“Was she insta-stalking y/n?” Lucas wonders, scrunching up his eyebrows, already putting up a red flag on this behaviour.

“Does she like you? I noticed you’re in a lot of her posts- did you two date or something?” “No, nothing like that. We’re just best friends,” Lucas says, purposely neglecting to mention that he’d recently developed a crush on you. 

Isabella nods, but is still convinced that you like him. “There is no way she can be ‘best friends’ with this guy and not have a crush on him..” She figures, shutting her phone off.

“Okay then.. I wanna meet her.”

Lucas’ eyes go wide in surprise. 

…

After the movie ended, you hung out with your dad for a few more hours, before deciding to leave before it got dark. Somehow, you’d convinced your mom to let you drive her car here, and you wanted to get it back without any deer marks on it.

During the movie, your bracelet had come off in the blankets, and you accidentally left it at his house.

“How was it?” Your mom asks once you walk back in the house. She was in the kitchen making a ceasar salad for herself, since you’d already eaten dinner.

“It was pretty fun. I know he’s done some terrible things to us, but.. I think he’s finally trying to change.” You say, sounding hopeful, and your mom nods slightly.

This would definitely take some getting used to, but hopefully your family would get to a point where everyone was back on speaking terms again.

It was a lot to hope for, but now it didn’t seem so impossible.


	10. CHAPTER TEN

Sunday morning, you woke up to a text from Lucas.

“Hey, do you wanna go roller skating with me and Isabella today? We’re going in a few hours, and she said she wanted to meet you”

“..she wants to *meet* me? ..why?”

“Idk, maybe she just wants to get to know you too- since we’re close..”

“ok well, i don’t wanna intrude on your date.. i’d just be the third wheel, lol”

“It’s not a date. Please just come. If you love me, you’ll come.”

“..alright fine, but i’m bringing doyoung so it’ll be less awkward for me.”

Lucas didn’t text back after that, so you messaged Doyoung asking if he wanted to come. He complained that he’d already agreed to go to Johnny’s party later today, and he thought *that* would be enough socializing for one day, but he eventually agreed to go.

You smiled widely, texting back, “thank youuuuuuu”, before getting ready to go.

Your mom didn’t think it would be a good idea for you to go skating when you already had a broken wrist, but you convinced her that you’d be careful, and wouldn’t let go of the railings, and she eventually decided to let you go.

As you were getting ready, you noticed you’d gotten a text from your dad saying you left your bracelet at his house, and you told him you’d pick it up later today.

“Today is boutta be so busy,” you think to yourself, searching for an outfit for later, to wear to Johnny’s party.

…

“Y/n, hi! I’m Isabella. Thanks for coming to meet me- I know you and Lucas are close and I just wanted to get to know his best friend. Hopefully we’ll become close friends too,” she says, giving you a hug as soon as you and Doyoung walked into the roller skating rink.

Doyoung and Lucas exchanged dark looks, (but you didn’t notice).

You gave a small smile back, feeling a bit uncomfortable. For some reason, what Isabella was saying just didn't seem genuine.

Her words were friendly, but the look she was giving you was almost as if she was sizing you up or something- trying to figure out what was so special about you that’d make Lucas wanna be your friend.

The more you looked at her, the more you thought she looked oddly familiar. Not even just the way she looked, but the way she talked even seemed familiar. Almost like you’d seen her before- or seen someone that looked like her before. You just couldn't put your finger on where you’d seen her, and just ended up brushing off the thought, walking over to the counter to pay for roller skates.

You were right about Isabella not being genuine. The real reason she wanted to meet you was to get an idea of who she was in competition with for Lucas. She was determined to win no matter what.

…

After you all found a spot to sit at, Lucas took your things and put them in the lockers for you, and Doyoung helped you put your skates on, kneeling down on the ground beside you to help. “I feel like Cinderella,” you joke, and he snickers a bit, tying the laces.

Isabella notices this, wondering, “how many guys does this girl have wrapped around her finger? Both him and Lucas seem like they’d do anything for her…”

Immediately when you stood up after getting your roller skates on, you slid and almost fell back onto the floor. Thankfully, Lucas caught you before that happened. 

“You don’t know how to skate?” He laughs, helping you stand back up. “I do, I just haven’t done it in a while,” you say defensively, after regaining your balance. 

When you looked over to see if Isabella and Doyoung were ready to go out into the rink too, you noticed they both had brooding looks on their faces. “I wonder what’s wrong with them?” 

Suddenly, Isabella’s expression changes into a smile as she hops up and glides past you into the rink, doing a couple spins before saying, “Come on guys~”. “Showoff.” you thought to yourself, trying your best not to roll your eyes.

Lucas and Doyoung followed after her, and you wobbled your way into the rink, feeling like you were going to slip, fall, and die at any moment. 

It was terrifying.

You eventually made your way to the railing and grabbed onto it like it was your lifeline, sighing in relief that you hadn’t fallen yet.

When you looked around for the others, you noticed Isabella had started a line, linking arms with Lucas and Doyoung, and as they passed by, you could hear her calling out for you to join. 

They passed you in the rink about three times before Isabella let go of the boys, and stopped behind you. “Here, let me help you,” she said, linking arms with you herself since you didn’t feel confident enough to join them. You immediately shook your head, fearfully. 

You just met this girl, how were you supposed to trust her with your life? (A bit dramatic, but-)

“Come on, I won’t let you fall,” she says, and you eventually decide to let go of the railing. You were embarrassed because you used to be really good at roller skating when you were younger, but you’d lost your talent for it since you rarely did it anymore. 

You both eventually got into a groove with the music, gliding gracefully together. It was actually kind of fun. You didn’t like this girl, because she seemed two-faced, but this was kind of enjoyable.

...

“So she’s your soulmate?” Doyoung asks Lucas. 

They were sitting down, off to the side, at the seats. Lucas nods, looking over at you and Isabella, still gliding along, arms linked. “Yeah, she is..” “She seems nice enough, so why don’t you like her?” Doyoung asks bluntly, making Lucas give him an irritated look. 

“I never said I didn’t—” Lucas responds, but cuts himself off once he notices you and Isabella gliding over to where they were sitting.

“This is so fun— it’s almost like a double date,” she smiles, taking a seat next to Lucas. “Wait- are you two soulmates too?” She asks, looking at you and Doyoung. Both his and Lucas’ eyes go wide at the question, but you answer, “No, we’re just friends,” and she nods.

After another hour of skating goes by, Isabella suggests getting food. “Doyoung, why don’t you come with me to get it,” she says, linking arms with him, and they skate off towards the food court section. You raised an eyebrow at her, wondering why she was being so touchy with him, when she had her own man. 

“Wait, why do I care-”

“So, how do you like her?” Lucas asks you with a smile. “..Uh, do you want the nice answer, or the honest answer?” You ask, sliding your feet out of the roller skates. You’d had about six ‘almost falls’, and you were done with this now, kicking the skates across the floor. 

Lucas gives you a look, as if he were disappointed or something, tilting his head to the side. “I don’t like her,” you admit, shaking your head, and Lucas sighs, not shocked at all. 

“--But not for the reason you think,” you quickly say, knowing he probably thought you were just jealous or something.

“She just seems ingenuine, you know? Nice-nasty.. I don’t know how to put it, I just get this weird vibe from her like she doesn’t actually like me or something,” you shrug, and Lucas has a pondering look on his face. 

“Well, if you don’t like her, I don’t either.” He says, and you turn to give him a confused look. 

“Dude, that’s your soulmate.. You have to like her,” you laugh bitterly. “No I don’t. I care more about what you think, and if you don’t like her- how can I have her be a part of my life?” He replies, and you roll your eyes.

“Since when have you ever cared what I think,” you say jokingly with a slight smile.

“I’m serious, Y/n.. if you don’t like Bella- I don’t either.” He crosses his arms. “Bella? ..She’s already got a nickname, wow.” You think to yourself, looking away from him. 

“Lucas, I said I want you to be happy.. and being with your soulmate is gonna do that- so stop caring about what I think and just be with her. I’m sure we’ll eventually get along anyways—” “Why are you pushing me away? I said I care more about you than her—” “Because we aren’t soulmates!” You blow up, finally looking up at him again.

“I need to let you go, and move on.. I’m not pushing you away, I’m just trying to move on and stop liking you,” you explain. Your pulse had gone up because of how agitated you were. 

Why wouldn’t he let you move on? It was hard enough trying to forget about him, but now he was basically saying he didn’t want you to let him go?

Lucas doesn’t respond, and eventually Doyoung and Isabella skate back over with the food. “Do you wanna eat outside?” Doyoung asks you, and you try to mask your sadness with a smile before answering, “What, like a picnic?” 

He nods.

“This boy really loves the outdoors.”

“I can’t stay actually, I need to get home and finish some schoolwork. My mom said I can’t go to the party tonight unless it gets finished,” Isabella says, and you realize she was talking about Johnny’s party. 

“Great.. I’ll have to see her again tonight too..” you sigh to yourself.

Both her and Lucas head out, since they’d driven here together, and you follow Doyoung out into the grass behind the parking lot, to eat.

You were opposed to eating outside at first, but eventually agreed to it because Doyoung had made the sacrifice of coming here with you, so it was your turn to make a sacrifice- eating inside like a normal person. 

“Why do you like being outside so much?” You ask, taking a seat next to him underneath a tree. “It’s calming to be out in nature,” he responds, spreading out napkins before laying the food out on top of them. “I’ve always liked being outside.” He says, and you nod. You didn’t like it, but you didn’t hate it either.

…

The food was actually pretty decent— to be from a skating rink food court. You both finished it up quickly since all that skating had made you both work up an appetite.

“This place is close to Dad’s house,” you realize, “I’ll go pick up my bracelet after leaving here.”

“So what did you think of Lucas’ soulmate?” You ask Doyoung, who was sprawled out across the grass again. “I don’t know, she seemed.. Interesting. I caught her staring at you multiple times today..” He replies. “So you noticed that too! I thought it was just me..” 

“Maybe she wishes you were her soulmate instead,” he jokes, and you shake your head. “I think she might be jealous.” 

“Of you?” “Yeah, because I’m best friends with her soulmate.. I’d be jealous too,” you shrug. 

...

You two end up talking for quite a while, eventually getting on the subject of your dad. 

You told Doyoung that even though he’d done all these terrible things to your family, you still wanted to forgive him and hope for the best that he’d continue to try and make things right. It was your hope that him and your mom would be back on speaking terms again.

As you told him this, Doyoung realized he really admired your positivity. He wasn't sure he’d be as forgiving as you were, if he were in the same situation. But he liked that about you- that you were willing to give people another chance, no matter how bad the error was.

“But enough about me and my problems,” you laugh, with downcast eyes, embarrassed that you’d just talked about yourself for like an hour. “Have you told your soulmate yet?” You ask, and he immediately knows what you’re referring to.

He sits back up, crossing his legs, and shakes his head, rubbing the back of his neck, with a frown.

“The reason I don’t wanna tell her is because I’m positive she likes somebody else..” he admits with a sigh, leaning back onto his hands. An expression full of pity comes across your face, since you were well aware of what it was like to have unrequited feelings, but you figured it was worse for him since it was his actual soulmate. You gently placed a hand over his, reassuring, making his eyes flick up at you.

“I’m sure she’ll love you once she gets to know you.. You’re a decent person, Doyoung,” you say with a smile. “But you have to tell her.. In order for that to happen,” you laugh, and he slowly nods. You couldn’t tell, but on the inside, he was freaking out. “Crap, crap, crap, why is she being so nice?”

“I doubt she’d *love* me- what is there to love?” Doyoung looks away, taking his hand back. 

You frowned, not liking the way he was talking about himself. “Well, for starters, you’re an amazing singer.. You’re smart, you’re funny, you’re really handsome,” you paused for a second, leaning over to lightly brush his bangs out of his eyes with your thumb, “.. and you’re super sweet and helpful,” you said, thinking back to all the little things he’d done for you- like carrying your books for you at school every day (even when you could’ve done it yourself), taking you to the doctors that one time- to get your cast fixed, offering to hang out with you so you wouldn’t think about Lucas and Isabella so much, listening to your family trauma, helping you with your stage fright that one time.. the list goes on. 

He did all that for you and you two were only friends, so of course he’d treat his soulmate right.

You really appreciated all of those things he’d done for you, even if it didn’t seem like much. 

“Jeez, the way I’m talking, he might think *I* like him,” you smile to yourself.

It was like- the more you talked, the more he felt like he was falling for you, and he hated it. 

“You really believe all of that?” He asked, looking skeptical, but finding it sweet of you to comfort him about his problems, when you had much bigger things to worry about. “Of course. You’re a catch,” you smile, leaning back onto your hands, and Doyoung just stares at you. You couldn’t tell what he was thinking, but for some reason you felt the urge to lean in, closer to him.

You couldn’t tell if this was the ‘i wanna kiss you stare,’ or if he was just thinking about something. 

You both stared at each other for a good minute, before Doyoung finally looked away. “What is he thinking about?” You wonder, scrunching your eyebrows up. 

He had finally decided he’d tell you.

Somehow you’d convinced him— without knowing you did— that he should tell you he’s your soulmate. Hopefully you wouldn’t be too mad at him for not telling you sooner.

“..Here goes..”

“Y/n?” 

“Hmm?”

“..I need to tell you something.” He says with a serious look, and you scrunch your eyebrows up, wondering what was wrong.

\--Suddenly your phone starts going off.

It was Lucas.

“Oh- hold that thought,” you say, answering the call.

Lucas was asking if you’d made it home safely yet.

“No, I’m actually still at the rink with Doyoung,” you say with a laugh, standing up and walking off. “Oh really? You’re still there? I just got home from dropping Isabella off, her house is so nice!” “That’s great- can you get to the point? Why are you calling?” 

Doyoung sighs, leaning his head back onto the tree. “Maybe this is just a sign that I shouldn’t tell her,” he says to himself, deciding not to anymore. 

Shortly after the call ends, you walk back over to Doyoung.

“He was just making sure we’re going to the party tonight. Not sure why he couldn’t have just texted that,” you shrug with a laugh. Doyoung just nods. “What did you wanna tell me?” “You know what? ..It can wait,” he says, standing up. 

“Oh, are you sure? You sounded pretty serious..” “I’m sure,” he nods, cleaning up the napkins and things and throwing them out in the trashcan by the entrance of the skating rink. “See you at the party, Y/n,” he says, before getting into his car, and you wave, walking over to your own car. (Well, it was actually your mom’s..)

“That was strange.. Maybe it really wasn’t that important though..”

…

You’d texted your dad earlier saying you’d stop by later today to pick up your bracelet, and he sent a thumbs up.

When you got to his house, you rang the doorbell, still wondering what Doyoung was gonna tell you before you’d gotten that call from Lucas. You couldn’t come up with anything, so you just decided to forget about it. “He’ll tell me when he’s ready..” You figured with a shrug.

After about a minute, you rang the doorbell again, wondering what was taking your dad so long, when suddenly the door swung open.

To your surprise, the door didn't open to reveal your dad- but instead, Isabella. There was also a little boy hiding behind her. “Bella, who is that?” “Will, go wait over there,” she says, pushing him away. “Isabella?” You asked in confusion. This was so random. Your dad’s house was the last place you’d expected to see her again. “Y/n, what are you doing here? How do you know where I live?” She asks you with equal confusion.

All of a sudden, it hit you. Like a truck.

“Dad *did* have more kids. He just didn’t say anything about them.. That’s why she looked so familiar to me- she looks exactly like Melody, only with different hair.”

This whole time, you’d suspected he and Melody had kids, but you never could have imagined that one would just happen to also be Lucas’ soulmate. “Life *really* hates me, doesn’t it?” You were so mad, you couldn’t even make words. 

You couldn’t come up with anything to say.

“Hello? I asked you a question. How did you get my address?” 

It was like you could hear what Isabella was saying, but your hearing was muffled, and your vision was going blurry. You felt dizzy, taking a step back.

Why was she just as confused as you were? Did your dad not tell his other family about you?

“When she met me this morning, she probably would’ve said something about this if she knew..” You figured.

“Bella, what’s going o-” Bruce had been in his office when he heard all the commotion at the front door and decided to come down the stairs to see what was happening. He was shocked to see you were the one at the door, suddenly remembering you said you’d come over later today.

“Dad, this Y/n, my soulmates best friend.. She won’t tell me why she’s here, though,” Isabella says, crossing her arms. She just wanted answers. 

You were still deep in your thoughts, but as soon as you looked up and saw him, you turned on your heel and started running back to your car. You were still trying to process everything, but it was just too much. “I’m done. I can’t deal with this.”

Bruce ran after you, with his arms extended out, trying to get you to stop, saying, “Y/n, y/n-- wait up. Let me explain- please don’t leave!”

You’d heard those words before.

Last time you’d made the mistake of hearing him out. Now you were done.

“Y/n, please, wait!” He pleaded, but you ignored him, trying to open the car door, but he blocked your way. “How many more times am I gonna have to listen to you try to explain stuff you’ve been hiding from me?! Huh? I’m tired of this!” You blow up in his face, and he just looks miserable. You weren’t sure why though- you were the one who’d been deceived.

“Y/n, please- I promise, I was gonna tell you—” “When? I’ve been over twice already, and you never felt the need to mention something like this?!”

How’d he expect you to react? He should’ve just told you he had other kids from the beginning. 

Bruce knew this, but he was scared you wouldn’t wanna keep visiting him if you knew he had another family that he’d taken care of and raised, while leaving your mom to raise you alone.

“Y/n, please.” He said, and you took a deep breath, trying to look away from him. 

“Daddy? How do you know her already? What is going on?” Bella asked from the porch, looking even more confused than before. 

“Daddy.” you scoffed, still in disbelief. 

Bruce hadn’t told Will or Isabella about you and your mom. He just didn’t know how they’d be able to look at him again after knowing he’d abandoned his first family. He could barely look at himself because of what he had done. 

Melody had a kid with her other soulmate too, before the soulmarks changed. He was about a year older than you- but unlike Bruce, she hadn’t abandoned her son.

Yangyang chose to live with his father though, because he had always felt like his mom had betrayed them both when she chose to be with Bruce instead of with his dad, but Melody still insisted on him coming to visit at least once a week, so Isabella and Will saw him frequently. 

They just didn’t know about you, though. 

Melody didn’t like that Bruce was lying to their kids, but she just went along with it since it was ultimately his choice to do so.

“Just let me explain— I promise, I never meant to hurt you,” he said, placing his hands on your shoulders. “Why didn’t you tell your family about me? Are you ashamed of me? Was I a mistake?” You just felt like giving up- right then and there. Tears streamed down your face, but you didn’t cry out loud, like you wanted to.

You didn’t have the will-power to reject him, so you just let him take your hand and guide you into the house. 

…

Bruce called everyone into the living room- Melody, Isabella, Will, and even Yangyang, who’d just happened to be here today. You were sitting next to your dad on the couch, with an emotionless, tear-stained face, just wanting to get this conversation over with.

You felt so bad.

“Why did I trust him? I’m such a fool.”

“Listen everyone. I’ve done some.. terrible things, but now it’s time for me to explain everything.” He says, looking around the room at everyone, until his eyes landed on you. 

“Everything will make sense soon, ok, y/n?” He says softly, placing a hand over yours with a worried expression. “You don’t have to forgive me— I don’t expect you to, but you deserve to know the whole truth..”

Your face was still completely expressionless, as you felt like every bit of energy you had was being drained out of you. You just stared blankly at the ground.

“You have a lot of explaining to do,” Isabella said, crossing her arms. She had a bad feeling about whatever it was that her dad was about to admit to have done.


	11. CHAPTER ELEVEN

Seven Years Ago…

It was the first week of middle school for you, and you had just changed school districts, so you had no friends. There was this one kid, though- Lucas, who helped you find your way around the school. He was at an advantage because he had an older sister that showed him where everything in the school was, weeks before- on back to school night.

You thought he was the cutest boy ever, and just the fact that he was so helpful made you develop a crush on him, so obviously- you told him that.

Little did he know, you’d end up becoming his best friend.

…

When recess came along, you ate and then followed Lucas outside. Compared to elementary school, recess was pretty dry. 

There was only a basketball court and hopscotch marks on the ground. Everyone else was just walking around with their friends, so you decided you wanted to walk around with Lucas.

When you found him, he was busy though.

“Hey,” “Hey, Y/n.. I’m kind of in the middle of-- playing a basketball game right now,” Lucas tried explaining to you as he passed the ball to someone else.

“I know, sorry- I just wanted to thank you for how helpful you’ve been to me all week. I really appreciate that,” “Oh yeah, no problem. You looked lost, so I had to help you,” he laughs a bit, not taking his eyes off the basketball.

“..I like you.”

Lucas freezes when he hears that, and turns to face you with wide-eyes.

“You what-?” He asked, right before getting hit square in the face with the basketball.

..He had to go to the nurse’ office after that.

…

You felt like it was your fault he’d gotten hit in the face- because you’d distracted him, but at least he didn’t reject you (which he would eventually do the next time you told him).

As you were walking through the hallways after being denied entry into the nurse’ office, you turned a corner and bumped into this kid who was reading a book.

After regaining your composure, you scowled at him, saying, “Watch where you’re going, bookworm!” You recognized him from your homeroom- he was always reading some book. 

To your surprise, he scowls back at you and blows a raspberry in your face. “Ew- Doyoung, you’re so gross!” You complained, running off to the bathroom to go wipe your face off. 

Doyoung rolled his eyes and went back to reading his book.

…

Finally, after what seemed like forever, classes ended. 

For some reason, the days at school just seemed longer now.

Since you lived right down the street from the school, your mom picked you up everyday instead of having you take the bus. 

As you were walking out of the building, Bruce, who had just happened to come across this same school to enroll Isabella in, was walking up, but quickly hid himself and his daughter around the corner of the building as soon as he saw you. “Y/n goes here?” He panics to himself, watching as you walked through the sea of students to get to your mom’s car. “Sandra…” He muttered to himself. Part of him wanted to go over there and speak to her before she drove off, but he knew he couldn’t.

“Daddy? Why are we hiding?” Isabella asks, wondering why her dad was holding her against the wall like some monster was on the other side. “Oh, um.. No reason.” He answers, letting go of her. “You’re acting weird..” “ I know, I just... I just saw somebody I used to know,” he says with a distant look in his eyes.

“Come on Bella, let’s go back to the car. I changed my mind on this school. We’ll find a better one,” Bruce says, and she stares at him in confusion for a moment, but then shrugs before following him back into the parking lot. 

Bruce figured since he was making more money now- sending Isabella to a private school wouldn’t be such a big deal. They could afford it, so why not? 

Anything to avoid an encounter with his past...

…

“You have a lot of explaining to do,” Isabella crossed her arms. She was sitting next to her mom on the other couch, across the room from her dad and you.

She had no idea what any of this was about- neither did her brother, Will, who was standing in the corner with Yangyang, Melody’s other son.

“I don’t even know where to start..” Bruce trailed off. “How about with what happened before we got together,” Melody suggests, and he nods.

You still hadn’t looked up from the ground. It was like you were there in the room, but your mind was somewhere else.

“Was I a mistake?”

“Okay, so.. kids— I know I should’ve told you both this long before we got to this point, but.. I wasn’t always with your mother,” Bruce says nervously, obviously to Will and Isabella. 

“What?” They both say simultaneously, and Yangyang already knows where this is going since he’d already experienced this himself.

“But daddy, you said you and mom were highschool sweethearts, and then also turned out to be soulmates,” Isabella says in confusion. “Seems like everyone’s heard a different version of this story,” you realize, bitterly.

“Yes, that is true- but I left out that me and your mother weren’t always soulmates..” Bruce says carefully, but it confuses Isabella even more.

Bruce pulls out his phone to show them the same picture he’d shown you that day at the car dealership. 

“This is Sandra, Y/n’s mom… my first soulmate—” 

“Your what?!” “Did you two get married?” The 5-year old asks, noticing the outfits. “Yes we did, Will.. you see our soulmarks?” “Red roses! But yours is pink now..” Will says, making the connection before Isabella did. She was still hung up on the fact that her father hadn’t always been with her mom. She was hurt that he never told them about this important part of his life- even if he did consider it his past.

Melody was silent, but looked at the picture as well. It was making her think back to her ex-husband, and how they used to have matching soulmarks too. 

“Daddy, what happened? How did you end up with mom then?” Isabella asks, looking shocked and hurt. “Well, I had been dating your mom when soulmarks came in, but ours didn’t match, so we broke up..”

Bruce continued talking, but you just drowned his voice out since you’d already heard this part. 

The part you were waiting for him to get to was the one where he explained how you and Isabella were basically the same age. You knew it involved cheating, but needed to hear him confirm it. “Mom probably doesn’t even know.”

“And Sandra and I ended up getting married..”

…

Two years after Bruce and Sandra got married, he got a call from Melody- to his surprise. He hadn’t spoken to her since they parted ways, all those years ago.

Melody told him that her soulmark changed. 

She wasn’t certain of it, but she just had a feeling that Bruce’ had changed too. She knew they were meant to be together from the beginning. As soon as Melody told him, he got up and walked out of the apartment to continue the call. He didn’t want Sandra to overhear anything. Afterall, he’d been hiding his own changed soulmark from her for weeks.

After he told Melody his changed too, she started crying tears of joy, but also of sadness. She didn’t want to leave her family. She already had a young son.

They ended up talking about this for a while, and soon it had gotten late. 

Melody suggested they see each other in person to make sure they really matched, and Bruce agreed to it, telling Sandra he was just going to a last minute work conference, and she foolishly believed him.

…

Bruce made a mistake that night.

Maybe it was because they were emotional after seeing each other for the first time in years, - maybe it was because they had one too many drinks. 

Maybe it was because their soulmarks matched now, and they thought it would be okay. 

They both made a selfish decision without thinking about anybody else but themselves.

Bruce didn’t go home that night.

…

The next morning, when he returned, he was welcomed home by a smiling, yet teary-eyed Sandra, who was holding up a pregnancy test. 

As soon as Bruce realized what was going on, he became teary-eyed as well, but not for the same reason. He regretted cheating with Melody. He knew it was a mistake, but couldn’t gather up the courage to tell Sandra what happened. 

Instead he just decided to act like it never happened. He tried cutting Melody off, not replying back to any of her texts, just trying to focus on his family- Sandra, and the baby. He didn’t want Melody to think he hated her, but he just didn’t know how else to handle the situation. She eventually gave up and stopped trying to contact him.

…

About a month later, he got another call from Melody- which he ignored, but she was persistent and kept calling him, so he eventually answered.

“What do you want? I told you to stop contacting me- what we did was a mistake! Who cares if the soulmarks changed? We already chose who we’d be with--”

“Bruce, i’m pregnant… It’s yours.” Was all she said, and he dropped to his knees.

Of course this would happen to him. He had to pay for his mistakes.

…

Instead of telling Sandra the full truth, he decided to use the ‘soulmarks changing’ thing as an excuse to leave her. Bruce knew that if Sandra found out the whole story, she'd be so hurt- maybe even sick.. He didn’t want anything to happen to the baby, so he just told her half of the story, finally revealing his changed soulmark to her.

She was in complete shock when she found out. She’d never heard of something like this happening before. 

They ended up fighting about it, which led to her kicking Bruce out.

She didn’t really expect him to leave, but she just felt betrayed. He didn’t want to leave either, but knew he had to- if he was going to keep this ‘changing soulmark’ charade up. It was just easier for him to leave her, than to admit to being unfaithful.

…

After he left, Sandra went into a depression.

She hadn’t seen Bruce again until the day you were born— which was the last time she’d see him for years. She told him she didn’t want him around her baby— again, not expecting him to actually leave. She was just saying things because she was hurt.

...

Thankfully, you brought the light back to her life, and she was eventually able to get through the hardships of being a single-mother.

…

After hearing the whole story, you ran out the front door. You couldn’t take anymore of this.

The tears were blurring your vision, and you tripped over your own feet, landing on your knees in the grass. You couldn’t even pick yourself back up, you felt so weak.

“Y/n..” A voice you didn’t recognize said, above you.

It was Yangyang.

He’d told everyone else to stay inside while he talked to you. He explained that he was the only one that truly knew how you felt- but even he couldn’t completely relate- since his mother never abandoned him.

Yangyang knelt down beside you, just patting you on the back softly as you sobbed.

Eventually you looked up at him. 

He looked nothing like Melody.

“..Why do I feel like I was a mistake that shouldn’t have happened? Like the soulmarks... What if my dad and Melody were meant to be together all along, and he should’ve never been with my mom?” You ask him. Your lips trembled as you spoke with a shaky voice. Yangyang just shook his head. 

He’d had those same thoughts once too, but his parents assured him that he definitely was not a mistake.

Melody was with Bruce now, but she made sure Yangyang knew that she loved his father once, and that she didn’t regret a thing. She didn’t regret having him for a son. It was what he needed to hear— and it was what you needed to hear now, as well.

“Soulmarks don’t make mistakes. Maybe at some point, your mom and Bruce really were meant to be together. And then they had you. Maybe that was the reason they were soulmates.. So you could be brought into this world,” he tells you.

“But i’m not even that special,” “Don’t say that.. I thought the same thing- but my dad told me I was the one who pulled him out of his depression after mom left him. I’m sure you had the same effect on your mother.” He says, and you nod, sniffling a bit. 

“Maybe he’s right..”

…

Meanwhile, inside the house, Isabella had run up to her room and slammed the door. Her whole life had been a lie. She thought her parents were the best people in the world, only to find out they’d caused so much trouble. 

Isabella already had a strained relationship with her mom before— for what she did to Yangyang and her ex, (After hearing it from her half-brother’s point of view, she began to despise her mom for what she did) but they had recently worked it out, and were starting to get along again. That’s why she considered herself a ‘daddy’s girl’— in her eyes, he never did anything wrong— never messed up. But now, she knew the truth.

She actually felt bad for you. For what happened to you and your mom— getting abandoned like that. “I was a mistake..” she says to herself, plopping down onto her bed. 

Her thoughts echoed your own.

She thought she was the mistake, since her parents cheated on their original soulmates. 

“What if the soulmarks were never supposed to change?”

She realized that her parents' marks changing had ruined two families.

It wasn’t fair.

…

Eventually you got up and left to go home.

You were still sad, but thanks to Yangyang, you felt a little less broken now.

“So, how’d it go?” Your mom asks, with a hopeful tone in her voice once you got back home.

As soon as she asked that, you broke down into tears again. You didn’t know how you were gonna tell her about your dad's whole other family— about how she was cheated on and never knew about it. 

“Maybe I shouldn’t tell her…”

“I probably should because what if she finds out herself, someday, and is angry with me for not telling her..”

“Honey, what’s wrong?” She asks you, looking concerned.

“You were right.. I shouldn’t have trusted him,” you said through your tears. A somber, but knowing look came across her face. She wanted to say ‘i told you so,’ but refrained because she was worried about what happened. 

A part of her really wanted this thing to work out. She was sorry that you’d never had a real relationship with your dad, but she just didn’t trust him.

…

After you told her everything, she could feel her blood boiling. Her anger towards Bruce grew- but not even because he cheated and lied about it, but because he’d hurt you so much. “I don’t want you going back to see that man ever again, you hear me, Y/n?” She says in a serious tone with a deep scowl on her face.

You were both cuddled up on the couch, and you looked up at her and nodded.

“You know.. he said he did want me to meet my little brother and sister eventually, but that he wanted to ease into that instead of just telling me upfront.” “Bull.” “I know.. But it’s crazy because he even lied to them— they didn’t even know I existed.” “I’m not even surprised. Once a compulsive liar, always a compulsive liar. He can’t own up to his mistakes unless he’s forced to,” your mom rolls her eyes.

You sighed, getting up for a glass of water.

“Are you okay?” “..I don’t know if I ever will be, mom,” you shrug with a bitter smile. “My own sister is my best friend’s soulmate, and not me,” you said bitterly. It felt weird, saying that you had a sister. “Why?! Why does she get Lucas— and dad? It’s not fair,” you yelled all of a sudden, wondering if you were only brought into this world to suffer, but then Yangyang’s words returned to your memory. 

“Soulmarks don’t make mistakes.”

...

After all this drama, you’d forgotten about the party tonight.

Both you and Isabella didn’t even feel like going anymore, but when you’d gotten a text from Aisha saying, “y/n, the party started an hour ago! are you still coming?” you’d decided, “Why not? I need to get my mind off of things anyway..”

Eventually you’d realize this was a mistake, and that you should’ve just stayed home.


	12. CHAPTER TWELVE

Brief recap- you just found out that bella is your half-sister, and that your dad had been keeping this from you the whole time. Bella was just as shocked as you were to find out about this because a week ago, she didn’t even know you existed. Even though none of this was your fault, Bella decided to project her anger at her father onto *you*

You pulled up the address Aisha sent you to get to Johnny’s house for the party, trying not to think about what happened earlier today. 

Once you got there, you could hear the loud music coming from the brightly lit house. It was dark outside now, but Johnny’s house illuminated the whole block. 

“Maybe this is a bad idea, I don’t even feel like partying right now..” You think to yourself, after finally finding a parking spot. 

Suddenly, there’s a loud tapping noise on your window, and you turn, startled, to see it was Bella. “Oh great..” you sigh to yourself. You didn’t know this, but Bella honestly didn’t want to come to this party either- after finding out about her dad’s secrets, but she also didn’t want to be at home with him, so she came out to the party too.

She went through many waves of emotions after you left. She was sad at first— sorry that you had been abandoned, then she was just in utter confusion because it felt like her whole life had been a lie. Now she was just angry. Not even at you though- she was angry with Bruce but she needed to project her anger onto *somebody*, and you just happened to be there.

You opened the car door, dryly greeting your sister. 

“I still can't believe she's my sister.. Ugh, that’s still weird to say..” 

“Hey, come on let’s go- we’re late,” she says, taking your hand and leading you to the brightly lit house up the street. Thankfully the music had been cut down a bit, but it was still pretty loud. “So are we just going to ignore the fact that we’re related now, or..?” You wonder to yourself, since it seemed like Bella was acting like nothing happened earlier today.

When you both walked in the house, you immediately recognized students from your classes. There were a lot of people here. You saw Johnny and his friends hanging out by the pool in the back, you saw Aisha and a few of her friends, but you didn’t see Doyoung. “Oh shoot, I forgot to text him back..”

…

Since Bella didn’t really know anybody here, and Lucas was nowhere to be found, she just hung out with you. 

“Y/n.. do you wanna talk about what ..dad told us?” Bella asks, and you look up from your phone at her, temporarily shocked because of the wording she used. 

“No, not really,” you sigh, staring back at your phone. Everyone around you seemed to be having fun, playing games, swimming in the pool outside, listening to music, but you just felt separated from it all. You couldn’t get your mind off of what your dad told you, and you definitely didn’t wanna discuss it with Isabella of all people.

You just weren’t ready yet.

Bella shrugs, grabbing two red cups and filling it with a clear liquid. You raise your eyebrow at her when she tries to hand you a cup. “Come on, just drink it.. Think of it as a ‘screw you’ to our parents.. Well to dad at least,” she says, leaning over the kitchen counter to hand you the cup. You looked down at it skeptically, before shrugging and taking the cup from her. 

You wanted to forget the pain after all, and this would do it.. temporarily. 

“It’s not a big deal.. Everybody else is drinking too, so why not?”

You downed the whole thing in one sip. 

Bella raised her eyebrows at you with a smirk, not really thinking you’d drink it, before pouring you some more. You made a face after taking another sip, before shouting “Screw our dad!”, raising your hands in the air, holding the drink with your good hand. “Woo!” Bella shouted out as well, supporting you. 

You didn’t notice it, but Bella never actually took a sip of her drink, in fact, she poured it out after you turned to walk away. “I knew she’d make a fool out of herself,” she says, dropping her fake smile. She’d planned to get you drunk so you’d do something embarrassing, to prove to Lucas that you’re just a fool who isn’t worth his time. 

Even though Lucas never said he liked you, she could tell, and she had to fix that. Plus making somebody else’s life harder was helping her forget about her own messed up life, that was falling apart.

She knew it was wrong, but she didn’t know how else to deal with the pain, than to make yours worse.

…

Mark was at this party too, and he texted Doyoung that you were here, after seeing you walk past, and that he should come- since he said he’d only come if you did.

After walking away from Bella, you wandered over to Johnny and his group of friends, asking them to fill up your cup. The alcohol was already starting to get to you, but from your prospective everything was fine. You felt good, so what was the harm? “Y/n? I didn’t know you were such a party animal!” Johnny laughs before filling your cup back up. “I didn’t either-” you giggle, glancing around him and his friends, finally spotting Lucas.

“Hey, when’d you get here?” He asks, walking towards you. He was in the pool and didn’t notice when you walked in with his soulmate. 

“Like an hour ago,” you reply, and he nods. “Is Bella here too?” “Ugh.. yeah she is..” you say, rolling your eyes. 

“Are you alright?” Lucas asks, starting to notice you were acting a bit different. “Well~ I just found out my entire life was a lie, *again*, so no-- i’m not alright.” “What? What do you mean?” He asks, raising an eyebrow. “Bella,” you spit out with a frown. 

“What about her?” “She’s my sister... Bella is my sister,” you repeat, not liking the way it sounded. Lucas’ eyes go wide. “She’s Bruce’ daughter?” “That she is.” You nod, slurring your words together, taking another sip of your drink. Lucas presses his lips into a thin line, not knowing how to respond, until he notices your red cup.

“Y/n.. what are you drinking?” “Nothing bad,” you say, holding the cup out of his reach, but he eventually snatches it out of your hands, sniffing it. “Your drinking?” “What’s the big deal? It’s a party! Everyone’s doing it,” you furrow your eyebrows, trying to take your cup back, but he has a firm grip on it. “This isn’t like you, Y/n,” Lucas shakes his head, looking worried. He knew you were only acting out because of the thing with your dad, and finding out you have a sister, but he didn’t like seeing you go down this path. 

“Give it back—” you said, snatching the cup so hard that it squeezed and the drink spilled all over the floor. “You made me spill it, now I have to go get more,” you rolled your eyes. “No—” 

Before he can stop you, Lucas is lifted up and carried away by his friends- Jungwoo, Jaehyun, and Ten, and they dunk him back into the pool.

You just shrug, walking off to get more booze since he was occupied now.

…

After finding another cup, you joined a group of people who were playing a drinking game in the dining room, and you played with them for about half an hour- so now you were definitely drunk.

After the game was over, you stumbled your way back over to the kitchen to search for Lucas, but you ended up running straight into someone else.

“Y/n?” The familiar voice said, and you looked up in a daze and smiled once you saw it was Doyoung. He’d been looking around this whole house for you ever since he got here. “We just can’t stop running into each other!” you giggle loudly, shaking your head. 

Doyoung gave you a confused look, immediately noticing something was off with you. 

“So when are you gonna tell me whatever it is you wanted to tell me earlier today at the skating rink?” You ask, slurring your words. 

He doesn’t answer. 

“Hey- can I tell you a secret??” You ask, grabbing onto his shoulder and going up onto your tippy toes to whisper into his ear, “I like you ..I wish you were my soulmate~”

His eyes go wide.

“Because you’re so sweet ..and Lucas is already taken..”

If it wasn’t clear to him before- now he was sure that you were wasted. “Y/n are you drunk?” He asks, furrowing his eyebrows, and you let go of his shoulder.

“Maybe..” “Why did you—” “Please don’t yell at me, Lucas already did that before he got carried away by those guys and thrown into the pool.” “What?” “Nevermind..” You giggle before walking off to get more to drink. 

Doyoung hesitantly follows after you, worried that something was wrong. “Why was she drinking?” He wondered, not thinking you were that type of person. But then again, he barely knew you.

You found a random cup on the counter, thinking it was yours, and you drank some of it before pouring the rest of it all over yourself. 

Little did you know, Bella was getting all of this on recording. “Woo!” “Y/n, what are you doing?!” Doyoung asks, running over to take the cup out of your hand. “I’m having fun,,lighten up a bit,” you slur, and he frowns. “I think I should take you home, you’re not acting like yourself..” 

“Why do people keep on saying that?” You frown, stumbling back a bit.

“I’m tired..” you say as your eyes flutter shut, and you start to fall backwards. Thankfully, Doyoung catches you. “Wo~ah, nice catch,” you giggle, cracking your eyes open slightly. 

‘“Where is Lucas? How could he let her just drink like this--” He wonders to himself, walking you over to a dark room. There was a couch in there where you could lay down until he figured out what to do. 

After he helped you over to the couch, he flipped a light on, and was startled to see Aisha and Moonbin making out in the corner. 

“Oh-- sorry, I thought this room was empty,” he says with wide eyes, looking away. They didn’t even notice, so he just shrugged and sat down next to you on the couch.

You were uncomfortable, so you laid your head down in Doyoung’s lap and stretched your legs out across the rest of the couch. He looked down at you, shocked at first, but then he realized you were already asleep.

At least he *thought* you were sleeping. You opened one eye and laughed when you caught him staring at you. Doyoung quickly looked away, and you noticed his ears turning a bright shade of red. 

“I saw that,” you tease, squishing his face with your good hand. “Y/n.. what are you doing?” His muffled voice asks. “I’m feeling your face, what does it look like?” you giggle, and he shrugs, just letting you. 

Eventually you moved your hand up to his hair and brushed his bangs out of his face. “Hmm~ soft..” you murmured, letting your hand drop down to rest on his cheek. “Why is your face so warm?” You ask, but before he can answer, you fall back asleep.

Shortly after that, Lucas walks in. 

He’d been searching for you ever since he escaped from the pool, and was shocked to see you in here with Doyoung, asleep on his lap. “I didn’t even know he was at this party..”

“Did she pass out?” he asks Doyoung, who shrugs. “I think she’s just asleep..”

“Come on Y/n, I’m driving you home,” Lucas says, but when you don’t move, he just picks you up bridal style. “What about my car?” You mumble, only half conscious. “Don’t worry about that right now, let’s just get you home, okay?” He says before giving Doyoung a look and then disappearing out of the room with you in his arms.

Doyoung sighed, wondering if you really meant what you said about wanting him to be your soulmate, or if you were just saying crazy things because you were drunk. He eventually got up to leave too since he had no reason to be here anymore.

As you’d eventually find out— Bella had been on instagram live, recording your antics. The video was already being screen-recorded and shared amongst the students that go to your school.

There was a brief moment where she regretted doing what she did, but then she thought back to how concerned Lucas looked when he asked her if she knew where you were, and the regret faded away- being replaced by bitter jealousy.

“Hey Lucas, where have you been this whole time?” She asked him with a smile, happy to finally be seeing him. “Uhh, the pool— have you seen Y/n anywhere?” he asked, with a concerned look in his eyes. Isabella frowned, seeing how much he *still* cared about you- even though you were acting like a complete fool. 

“She’s in there..” Bella hesitantly said, pointing towards the living room. “Thanks,” Lucas says, dashing off. She sighs to herself, watching him leave- realizing it’d take *a lot* to make him stop liking you..

“Well.. he hasn't seen the video yet, so there's still hope.”

…

Your mom was angry when she saw the state you were in when Lucas dropped you off, but she decided to pin her anger on Bruce for causing this, instead of being angry at you. 

She knew you were going through alot. 

Lucas wanted to ask more about what happened with all that, but decided not to. 

He’d even noticed Bella was acting stranger than usual too, when he saw her at the party, but he didn’t ask her any questions about it either.

...

The next day, you woke up with a pounding headache, but you still had to go to school. 

(Instead of punishing you for drinking, your mom just made you go to school.)

You couldn’t remember a thing that happened last night, except for Isabella handing you the red cup. Everything else was a blur. 

Your mom was sorry for you and had some hangover soup ready for you to drink once you woke up, then she drove you to school herself so Lucas wouldn’t have to. He’d already done enough.

“Y/n?” She asked before you got out of the car. “Hmm?” “You gonna be okay?” “..Yeah,” you say with a sigh, trying to give her a reassuring look. 

…

Lucas met up with you in the hallways to carry your stuff for you, looking concerned. “You okay?” He asks, and you nod. “Yea.. but I don’t remember what happened last night..” As you were making your way to your first class, you were getting stares from multiple people as they walked past. They were snickering at you and you had no idea why.

“Is it just me, or is everyone staring at me?” You ask Lucas, furrowing your eyebrows. Before he could answer, Yuta passed by with a smirk, saying “Y/n, you’re such a party animal.” “What is that supposed to mean? What happened last night?” You stop to ask Lucas. “Look, something happened.. But it’s not as bad as you think..” he responds, making you worry even more.

“What? What happened?” You pressed on, but he didn’t know how to tell you that a video had been going around the entire school of you pouring alcohol all over yourself. 

Lucas didn’t know it was Isabella who’d originally recorded it, since people had screen recorded the live and shared it amongst each other. 

Suddenly, Johnny walked passed, pretending to be holding a cup and pouring it all over his head, mimicking what you’d done in the video, laughing as he walked off. “What was that?! What did I do last night?” You ask wide-eyed, getting annoyed that Lucas wasn’t saying anything.

“There’s… a video circulating around the school—” “A video? Of me doing what?” “Well.. You were pretty drunk last night, so—” “What did I do??” “How about I just show you,” he says, taking out his phone and pulling up the video immediately.

Your eyes widened in horror as the video played out. “Oh no.. who recorded this?!” You asked before looking around the busy hallway, embarrassed. “I don’t know.. I couldn’t find the original video. I just know it was from someone’s insta live, but the name is cropped out on the video..” Lucas shrugs. 

“I can’t believe this,” you say a bit paranoid, looking around. “Y/n, I’ll find whoever did this.” He says with a frown. “You really don’t have to.. It could’ve been anyone,” you shake your head, walking off to your class. He followed after you, deciding to ask Bella if she’d seen anybody recording you at the party last night.

The video wasn’t really that big of a deal.. tomorrow another video would probably come out and be the talk of the school. This would blow over soon enough.

Unfortunately, since the video was even shared with the teachers at your school, you were suspended from the End of The Year Dance committee (temporarily), which really got you down since you were looking forward to planning it with the others. “This isn’t fair, I wasn’t even the only one drinking at that party.”

…

You were too embarrassed to even speak to Doyoung in class, but he came up to you during lunch to talk about what happened. 

Lucas was off somewhere else, so Doyoung didn’t have to worry about confronting him today.

“You’ve seen the video haven’t you?” You asked embarrassedly, and he nodded, taking a seat across the table from you. “I actually saw it right when it happened, I just didn’t know somebody was recording..” “Seriously?” you facepalm with a sigh. 

“..I didn’t say anything embarrassing to you last night, did I?” You ask, peaking at him through the cracks in between your fingers. He just makes a face like he doesn’t know how to answer that, and you cringe, realizing that reaction meant you *did* say something embarrassing. “I did, didn’t I?” 

Doyoung briefly flashes back to you saying “I wish you were my soulmate~”, (and the face squishing..), before answering, “Um.. no, not really.” “What? Are you serious? I didn’t say anything crazy?” “No, not anything too bad,” he chuckles a bit. “Well that’s a relief,” you sigh.

“But.. Why were you drinking in the first place? Was something wrong?” He asks, and your small smile fades. “I don’t really wanna talk about it,” you say, shocked he could tell something was wrong. “I could’ve just been drinking for no reason-- how does he know something was wrong?”

Doyoung gives you a concerned look, but nods. 

“I got kicked off of the dance committee because of that video,” you say, changing the subject. “Seriously?” “Yep,” you say flatly. “I’ll have to drop by there tomorrow to pick up the rest of my binders and things,” you say, making a mental note to do that. “Wow, that’s too bad.. guess you suffered through dancing with me for nothing,” he jokes, and a small smile appears across your face as you think back to that day he helped you pick out songs for the dance playlist. “I know, what a shame..” you joke back.

…

Meanwhile, Lucas was using his lunch break to go find Isabella and ask if she knew anything about that video of you getting out. He texted her and they agreed to meet up at the cafe where they’d first met.

“Hey soulmate!” She smiled, walking over to his table and sitting across from him. Lucas tried to smile, but he just wanted to get straight to the point. “So when are we going on a second date? We should plan that soon—” “Have you seen this video?” Lucas cuts her off, showing it to her on his phone. Her innocent smile is replaced by a sly smirk as she nods. “Oh yeah, I saw her doing that,” she laughs, “She totally made a fool out of herself, right?” She says, expecting him to agree with her, but instead he raises an eyebrow in suspicion.

“..Bella, did you record this?” He crosses his arms. “Heh.. Yeah, but what’s the big deal?” She laughs nervously, looking confused. Lucas scowls at her. “Plenty of the people at the party saw her doing it! I was just—” “That video made her get suspended from the dance committee at our school, and she got teased for it.. I think you owe her an apology.” He says, and her eyes go wide. “You want me to apologize to her? For what?! She’s the one who was acting crazy— I only recorded it so you’d see she isn’t worth your time—” she accidentally lets slip out. 

“What?” 

“..Look Lucas, I know you like her.. I can tell, but why would you want to be with a screw up like her? Don’t you see how messed up her life is?”

“Y/n’s life is ‘screwed up’ because of your father, so I don’t wanna hear any of that coming from you,” he says back, furrowing his eyebrows. “Wait, how do you know about that? Y/n told you?” Bella asks with wide eyes. “Yea, she did— which is why I don’t understand how you could go out of your way to try and make your own sisters’ life worse. You owe her an apology.” He repeats, watching tears begin forming in Bella’s eyes. 

She was trying to avoid thinking about how you were basically her family now. She needed someone to pin her anger at her parents on, and if that person wasn’t you, then she’d actually have to confront her dad about it— who she’d also been avoiding.

Bella knew Lucas was right, but she didn’t say anything.

“I don’t think we should see each other anymore.” He says, standing up. 

“I knew it. You’d rather be with Y/n, wouldn’t you? She’s the reason you don’t wanna be with me— your actual soulmate!” Bella yells angrily, standing up as well. “The reason is because Y/n is my best friend, and I can’t have somebody who wants to hurt her be a part of my life,” he replies back, shaking his head. 

Bella looks defeated after hearing that, and Lucas turns to walk out of the cafe, leaving her behind, standing alone.

“Oh, and you were right.. I do like Y/n.” He says, finally admitting it, turning to face her one more time before walking out the door. The tears finally streamed down her face after he left, and she plopped back down into her seat, holding her head in her hands.

It was a tough decision for Lucas to make, just giving up his soulmate like that, but now he was certain that he wanted to be with you. 

…

You’d just been relaxing at home for a bit, texting Aisha about the party last night, when you got a text from Doyoung asking if you wanted to hang out at the tree. “That tree is just our spot now, I guess,” you smile to yourself, replying ‘sure’, and getting up to go.

Your mom let you take her car back to the school, and you met Doyoung under the usual tree by the fountain. 

You talked for about an hour about nothing, before you finally decided you were ready to tell him about your newest family trauma.

It was so much that you didn’t even know where to start, though.

You sat up from laying in the grass and leaned against the tree. 

“What’s on your mind?” Doyoung asked, sitting up as well. He noticed the change in your expression and wondered what was up. 

“My dad.. He told me some crazy news the other day.” “Really? Like what?” He asks, and you sigh. “After I left the skating rink yesterday, I went to pick something up from his house, and it was Isabella who opened the door when I knocked.” You say, staring blankly at the grass as you recall exactly what happened that day.

“What? --Lucas’ Isabella?” “Yeah. Apparently she’s my half sister.” You say with a bitter smile, wrapping your arms around your knees. 

“No way..” Doyoung says with wide eyes. This was shocking even to him. “I have a little brother too.. They didn’t even know I existed,” you say, and your voice starts getting shaky, and your vision begins getting blurry as the tears fill your eyes once again. “Your dad kept all of this from you guys? That’s crazy!” He says, not noticing that you were crying.

“I know.. He just couldn’t wait to start a new family with his new wife,” you say, bitterly. 

Doyoung heard the pain in your voice, finally noticing you were crying, and he felt his own heart start to ache. Before you knew it, his arms were wrapped around you in a tight hug. 

You were trying to be strong and act like you were unaffected by all of this, but once he hugged you, you couldn’t stop yourself from sobbing.

Doyoung didn’t know what to say. He was angry too, but the only thing he could think to do was hug you. “Why didn’t he just pretend he didn’t know me that day I found him? I wish I never met him,” You sob, snot dripping from your nose.

You both stayed like that for a while until you finally stopped crying, and he let you go. 

“You’re really strong Y/n.. for dealing with all of this.” He says, firmly gripping your shoulders. 

You didn’t believe him, but nodded anyways. 

“He’s always listening to my problems.. He doesn’t have to do that.” You think to yourself, realizing how caring and supportive he was. 

“Thanks,” you sniffed, standing up. “I think I should go home.. All of this crying made me tired,” you say, laughing half-heartedly, and he stands up as well. 

“Are you gonna be okay?” He asks, concerned, and you nod, giving a small smile. 

“I’ll get over it eventually, like I always do..” You shrug. 

Before turning to leave, you say, “hey, you never told me what I said to you at the party last night,” and Doyoung gives an unsure smile. 

“You really wanna know?” 

“Yeah, what did I say?” You ask, curiously.

Doyoung smirks, recalling that night. He was shocked to find out you liked him, but just figured you were only saying that because you were drunk. 

But he was a bit hopeful that you really meant what you said. “What? Why are you making that face?” You laugh nervously. “You said that you liked me.” Doyoung finally responds.

“I said what?!” “And that you wish I was your soulmate,” “What!” “Because I’m so sweet~” He says, mimicking the way you sounded, and your jaw drops in shock. “No way I said that!” 

“You did.. You also said my hair was soft,” “I-- .. you’re a liar, I totally embarrassed myself... I’m sorry about that,” you laugh, shaking your head. “You don’t have to apologize, you were a cute drunk,” he laughs at you. “Shut up.”

“I really can’t believe I said that,” you say with wide eyes. “Why is it so hard to believe? Because you like Lucas?” He asks suddenly. 

You look up at him, unable to answer for some reason, and he looks away. “See you later, Y/n,” he says, walking off to the dorms.

…

Later that night, you couldn’t sleep.

You were thinking about what you said to Doyoung— about how you wished he was your soulmate.

“Why would I say that? ..Do I actually like him?” You ask yourself, tossing your covers to the floor. “..I guess I appreciate how much he listens to me.. Maybe that’s what drunk me meant to say,” you try to convince yourself.

“..I said his hair was soft? —ugh, what’s wrong with me?” You cringe to yourself.

…

Meanwhile, Doyoung and Mark were discussing how he should tell you that he’s your soulmate. He’d changed his mind again and decided to tell you- since you said that you liked him.. well at least drunk you said that. 

Mark had convinced Doyoung that he should tell you that you two were soulmates in some elaborate way (Mark still didn’t know you were Doyoung’s soulmate though), but he didn’t like any of his ideas. 

“This one is dumb.. This one’s too elaborate… this one is too cheesy,” Doyoung says judgingly, as his eyes skimmed down the list of ideas Mark had written down for ways he could tell you. “Well how about you come up with an idea then?” Mark says, sounding offended. “I think I’ll just tell her.. By showing her my soulmark,” “That’s boring.” Mark replies, and Doyoung gives him an annoyed look.

“Dude, why can’t you just tell me who she is?” 

“Why is it so important to you?” “I don’t know— like, you just seem happier these days. I feel like I need to thank her or something.. because before you met her, you were such a cranky roommate.” Mark says honestly. “..You’ll find out who she is soon enough,” Doyoung says with a slight smile. “Whatever you say, man..”

Doyoung decided he was going to tell you tomorrow after school under the tree. 

He was nervous to tell you, but excited at the same time, wondering how you’d react. He wanted to call you right now to tell you, but figured it’d be better to do it in person. 

“What if she *still* chooses Lucas over me after she finds out?”


	13. CHAPTER THIRTEEN

A few weeks had gone by, and it was finally time for you to get your cast off. 

Doyoung had offered to come with you again so your mom wouldn’t have to, but he was also planning to show you that he was your soulmate this way— instead of just telling you.

His plan was to put his wrist up next to yours right after you were freed from the cast, to surprise you. 

…

“Alright, you’re good to go.” The doctor smiled, and you grinned, excited to see your soumark again for the first time in a while. “Thanks,” you reply, and she nods.

“Wait— what? It changed!!” you yell with wide eyes. 

Doyoung, who had been rehearsing in his mind how he was gonna tell you, immediately got up from the chair in the corner and came over to see what you were talking about.

“Ohno, This can’t be happening--” He thought to himself, panicking.

“Woah~ you’re right. Wasn’t it neon green before?” The doctor asks in shock. 

She was the same doctor who thought it’d be funny to give you the matching cast, but even she hadn’t seen anything like this before— since changing soulmarks was so rare. 

“Yeah.. it’s a red heart now..” You say, breathing unevenly, trying to process what you were seeing. 

“But that means..” 

Doyoung’s heart shattered when he saw your new soulmark, quickly pulling up his sleeve to see if his was still there. 

“It’s gone.” 

Suddenly, you got up and ran out the room. 

“Y/n, where are you going? Wait—” Doyoung asked, running after you. 

“I have to find Lucas! He really was the one after all this time— I knew it,” you say, tearfully, with a happy smile. You just had to find him. 

After hearing that, Doyoung just froze where he stood, letting you go.

Deep down he knew Lucas would win in the end. He wasn’t surprised.

“But what if I can make it change back?” He briefly thought, searching for an excuse to follow after you, but he was too late.

Once he got outside, he saw you in Lucas’ arms. “No-”

As Lucas leaned down to kiss you, Doyoung had to look away. 

It wasn’t fair.

…

“Huh? You’re up at this time again? Was it another nightmare?” Mark, who had been watching tv, asks from the couch. Doyoung ignores him, slamming the door to the bathroom behind him. “Yeesh,” Mark said, scrunching his eyebrows up.

…

You didn’t see Doyoung in class this morning, and it made you worry something was wrong— since he never missed classes. (He slept through them, but never missed any). 

During lunch, Ms. Thompson came by to remind you to pick up your things from the dance committee room at the end of the day— since you’d been temporarily suspended, and you nodded. 

“This is stupid, I wasn’t the only one drinking at that party..” You thought to yourself in annoyance.

At the end of the day, you did as you were told, and walked down to the room the dance committee used to meet and plan things, with Aisha. “At least there’s next year, Y/n,” Aisha says, trying to cheer you up about it and you nod. 

When you got to the room, you saw Yuta and Taeyong horse-playing. “Guys! Stop messing around, we still have to figure out what we’re gonna do about the decorations, and catering before Ms. Thompson gets here,” Aisha says with an annoyed expression. 

Ms. Thompson had agreed to help with sound equipment, but literally everything else was on y’all-- well, not on you anymore. They still had a lot of work to do and the dance was coming up soon. Yuta, who had Taeyong in a headlock, releases him, but not before you saw his neon green soulmark.

Your eyes immediately went wide. 

“Yuta.. your soulmark—” “What? Does it match yours?” He laughs, holding it out for you to see, and you get a better look at it, realizing it was different from yours. “You wish.. Is it the same color as Taeyong’s?” You ask, noticing Taeyong’s was also neon green. This was so strange. “Yeah- me and all the other guys have this neon green color, it’s kinda crazy,” he chuckles. 

“Moonbin and all his friends are like that too— different soulmarks, but the same color,” Aisha adds.

“Wow.. it’s like we were all meant to be friends or something,” Taeyong says. “Yeah— except Doyoung,” Yuta laughs. 

“What—” *JK FACE*

“Right, we’re more like frenemies.” “Hold up, hold up,” you interrupt, having a mixture of a confused and shocked look on your face. “What did you mean by that? —Isn’t Doyoung’s soulmark purple?” You ask, shaking your head, and the two return the confused look, like they had no idea what you were talking about. 

“I remember seeing it— it was a devil!” You say, fully convinced that that was what you saw.

Taeyong and Yuta exchange confused looks, before finally remembering the prank they had played on Doyoung that day. “Ohh-- you thought that was real?!” Yuta busts out laughing, confusing you even more. It was even funnier to them now that they knew it actually looked believable. 

“It wasn’t real?” “No, we drew that on him when he was sleeping in class,” Yuta answers in between giggles. “You actually thought that was his soulmark? This is hilarious.” “Right. I think his actual soulmark was like— ..three music notes or something like that,” Taeyong laughs.

...

Before you knew it, your legs were carrying you out the door. “Y/n— where are you going? You left all your stuff!” Aisha called after you, but you had already sprinted down the hall. You had to tell Doyoung. 

As you ran, your mind flashed back to all the times you’d run into him. Everything was clicking now.

The day soulmarks came in, when he bumped into you in class.

The day after soulmarks came in, when you both fell in the grass.

(It was a blurry memory that had returned, but--) that day at the party when you’d bumped into him while you were drunk, and he caught you. 

When you had bumped into each other as kids..

You were running into him for a reason.

As you ran down the many steps, exiting the building, you ran right past Lucas, who called after you. He was waiting for you to come out, so he could tell you something important.

“Y/n-- wait up,” he called after you, and you stopped in your tracks. “Lucas.. I just found out something crazy,” you say, trying to catch your breath. “Me too.. You go first,” he says, taking a seat on a step. 

You sit down next to him, gathering your thoughts, before saying, “Doyoung is my soulmate.”

Lucas’ bright expression fades. He doesn’t have much of a reaction, so you lift an eyebrow at him. You’d expected at least an *eyebrows raise* or something— but he had no reaction. 

“..You knew, didn’t you?” You ask, scrunching your eyebrows together. 

Again, he doesn’t answer, and you stand up, pissed. “Wow. I can’t believe this,” you say, walking down the rest of the stairs, but he gets up to stop you. 

“Y/n wait, I can explain—” “Explain what? How you’re allowed to have your soulmate, and i’m not?” You roll your eyes, trying to walk away again, but he steps in front of you. 

You were tired of him being so possessive over you for (seemingly) no reason. 

“Can you get out of my way? I don’t wanna speak to you,” you say, walking around him. 

“Y/n wait— ..I didn’t tell you because I like you.” He blurts out, and you freeze in your tracks. “I mean.. I think I love you,” he corrects himself.

“How many surprises am I gonna get today?” 

You wonder to yourself in shock. 

“I wanted you all to myself, so I didn’t tell you he was your soulmate..” Lucas admits, and you turn back around to face him. “Why? Why now,” You ask, shaking your head with a bitter smile. 

Why did he wait until *after* you got over your crush on him to tell you this?

”I didn’t know I liked you until another guy came into the picture,” he says, shrugging his shoulders. “What about Isabella?” “I’m done with her.. I found out she was the one who posted that video of you,” he says, and your eyes go wide, but you really weren’t surprised. 

“Of course..” 

“But I’m serious, Y/n, I ended things with her. I told her I like you,” he says, walking closer towards you. You were completely speechless. 

All of this seemed to have come from out of nowhere. What happened to him thinking of you as nothing more than his best friend? You looked up at him with an unsure expression, when suddenly his lips landed on yours. 

“I can’t—” you say, pushing him away. 

Never in a million years did you think *you’d* be the one pushing him away, but things had obviously changed.

“..I think I like Doyoung,” you admit out loud for the first time, and Lucas glances down towards the ground, looking disappointed, but nods. 

After that, there’s an awkward silence that comes over you two. “See you around,” you say before running off to find Doyoung. 

Lucas nods, but decides that he won’t give up. 

One thing he admired about you was your persistence with him-- you never gave up on him after all those years, even after he rejected you multiple times. So he was ready to get rejected a million times too. He just knew you’d change your mind eventually, and he wasn’t about to give up any time soon.

He just hated that he was too late.

…

You were sitting under the tree, waiting to see if Doyoung would show up. You’d texted him earlier today, but got no response. “I hope he’s okay..” you think to yourself, looking around with a worried expression. The whole campus was pretty empty. 

You considered walking over to his dorm, but you figured that he’d contact you when he was available. Your dad had gotten your car fixed again, and left it for you at your house this morning— leaving a note on the hood (which you crumbled up), as a goodbye/apology gift. 

You were still angry with him, but you still accepted the gift. “Guess I should go..” you sigh, getting up, but when you turned around, you bumped into someone. 

...

You stopped to check for your soulmark, but it still wasn’t there. Suddenly, someone behind bumped into you. “Hey, watch where—” you turned around to see that it was that quiet guy, Doyoung. “You made me drop all my stuff.” He glared at you. “Well maybe watch where you’re going next time.” You glared back.

“I don’t need your help.” He pushes your arm away, and in the process, you catch a glance at his left wrist. It was blank too. “Hmm.. that’s interesting.” You said, thinking out loud. “What?” He asked, straightening back up. “..I thought I was the only one who was still blank.” 

You say with a bitter smile, pointing at his wrist.

…

“Should I find you? ..Or am I really just better off alone?” You ask your soulmark,   
but your thoughts were interrupted when you accidentally ran into somebody.

Whoever it was, had been foolishly walking while reading a book, not looking where he was going, and you crashed into him. Thankfully you both landed on the grass. Well, you landed on top of him, and he landed on the grass. 

“Wh— You again?” You say, leaning up to see it was Doyoung. 

This was the second time you two had run into each other, and it was starting to get annoying. “Get off of me,” he says, shoving you onto the grass. “Wow, what a gentleman.” you say sarcastically, peeling yourself off of the ground. 

…

As you were walking through the hallways of your new middle school, after being denied entry into the nurse’ office to see Lucas, you turned a corner and bumped into this kid who was reading a book.

After regaining your composure, you scowled at him, saying, “Watch where you’re going, bookworm!” You recognized him from your homeroom— he was always reading some book. 

To your surprise, he scowls back at you and blows a raspberry in your face. “Ew— Doyoung, you’re so gross!” You complained, running off to the bathroom to go wipe your face off. 

Doyoung rolled his eyes and went back to reading his book.

...

You stumbled your way back over to the kitchen to search for Lucas, but you ended up running straight into somebody else.

“Y/n?” The familiar voice said, and you looked up in a daze and smiled once you saw it was Doyoung. “We just can’t stop running into each other!” you giggle, shaking your head. 

…

“Ow— ..Doyoung?” You asked, gazing up at him as if he were the most important person in the world to you. He had his hands on your arms to support you so you wouldn’t fall. 

“Why do you sound so surprised? I think whenever we bump into somebody from now on, we should just assume it’s each other,” he laughs, and you slowly nod. 

It was like ever since you found out he was your soulmate, you were starting to see him differently. You couldn’t stop staring.

He had been in his dorm all day, thinking about that nightmare— wondering if it would become a reality. Thankfully, Mark talked him down and convinced him that he *had* to tell you— even if the soulmarks do change, you still deserved to know.

You both had big news to share with each other, but the only thing you could seem to do was gaze into each other's eyes. 

Eventually the silence broke, “..I have to tell you something-” you both said at the same time. 

“Oh, you go first,” “No you--” you both continue interrupting each other. “Ok fine—” You both just end up laughing because you couldn’t stop speaking simultaneously.

Then you both decided to blurt it out.

“We’re soulmates—” “What? You knew?!” You both exclaimed. “I just found out today, Yuta and Taeyong kinda told me..” You reply, and Doyoung makes a face. “Wow.. I wanted to be the one to tell you,” “Wait- is that what you were gonna tell me at the skating rink the other day? How long did you know? When did you find out?” 

“..Don’t be mad,” he says, looking nervous, and you give him a skeptical look. “..I found out the day you got your cast fixed,” “What— seriously? Why didn’t you say anything?!” “I thought you liked Lucas! So what was the point?” He says, and everything starts making sense now. 

All those times he’d mentioned not wanting to tell his soulmate because she liked her best friend.. He was talking about you. 

Suddenly you began to feel guilty, remembering how you’d said you’d definitely pick Lucas over your soulmate. It wasn’t your fault— it was true at the time, and you had no idea you were actually speaking to your soulmate, but now you just felt bad for saying that to him. 

“No wonder I always see him and Lucas giving each other dirty looks..”

You briefly think back to Lucas kissing you- deciding not to mention that.

“My head hurts..”

Doyoung watches as your expression changes from hurt to sad, trying to figure out what you’re thinking about.

“Can I see it?” You ask all of a sudden, and he nods, holding out his wrist. He pulls down the sleeve, revealing the neon green music notes. 

Your eyes go wide, even though you already knew he was your soulmate. It was just crazy actually seeing it— the exact same one you had, only on his wrist. 

“So I really did see it that day..” you mumble to yourself in shock, as tears start forming in your eyes. You weren’t sad-- you were just grateful you’d finally found him. 

You take his hand in yours and light brush your thumb over the music notes. 

Even though you were teary-eyed, a bright smile came across your face. You’d finally found him, when you thought you never would. 

You had been waiting for this moment your entire life— ever since you found out what soulmarks were.

You looked up at him, still holding onto his hand, and he had the same expression of happiness and almost relief on his face. He was grateful you didn’t react in the way he thought you would. 

He kept thinking back to that day you’d told him the soulmark you got wasn’t the one you wanted, but now it seemed like it actually *was*. 

“It was you this whole time, huh?” You say, breaking the silence. He nods, and you let go of his hand, watching his expression change.

“What?” “..I’m scared,” he admits nervously, and you let out a small laugh. “I thought you said you don’t get scared?” “This is different! We’re *soulmates*,” he says defensively, but he smiles too. “Yeah.. I’m scared too,” you admit as well.

This was new territory for you two.

You’d never even had a boyfriend before this. 

(Besides Lucas, in your mind.)

“Let’s just promise not to hurt each other.. Okay?” You say, holding your pinky out. Doyoung raises an eyebrow, skeptically, and you roll your eyes. “Just do it.” “Alright, alright,” he says, wrapping his pinky around yours. “I promise.”

...

You knew it was getting late and that you should probably start heading back home before you were late for dinner, but you just could take your eyes off of Doyoung for some reason. 

It was the same for him, so you two were just gazing into each other's eyes for what seemed like forever— until you both started leaning in closer.

You closed your eyes and felt his nose lightly brush against yours, but suddenly he moved back. He couldn’t get the image of you with Lucas out of his head. “Y/n.. you don’t still like Lucas, do you?” He asks, with a sad, yet worried expression on his face. 

You open your eyes back up, looking surprised he asked that all of a sudden.

You hesitate to answer, looking down at the ground. Lucas had stirred up some old feelings by confessing to you earlier, but you didn’t know how to tell him that.

“I can’t tell him what happened..” You shake your head, saying, “No.. I think my crush is gone.” Doyoung furrows his eyebrows, like he’s thinking, making you wonder if you sounded believable enough. “I really wanna believe you,” he says quietly. 

“..But you don’t?” 

“I dunno..” He answers honestly.

…

After that conversation you went home, and on his way back to his dorm, Doyoung ran into Lucas (not literally). He was just going to ignore him and continue on his way, but Lucas called out to him. “Hey— you know Y/n knows your secret now, right?” He says, but Doyoung keeps walking. “Yup. She told me.”

“Oh really? Well did she tell you that we kissed too, or did she leave that part out?” Lucas says, and Doyoung freezes in his tracks. 

His fears were already coming true. 

“Look man, I know she’s your soulmate, but she’s liked me for longer, so you might as well just give up. You know I’ll win in the end.” Lucas says, trying to sound intimidating, but Doyoung decides to just keep on walking. 

Continuing this conversation would just be pointless. 

In the end— it was *your* decision who you wanted to be with, not Lucas’, so he just kept moving and didn’t let what Lucas said bother him.

He wasn’t mad at you, but he was definitely gonna confront you about this later.


	14. CHAPTER FOURTEEN

The next day after class, Doyoung came up to you before you left. 

You smiled, trying to act normal around him, but it was hard to— now that you knew he was your soulmate. 

“Hey, what’s up?” “Um.. nothing much— Lucas told me he kissed you yesterday, and—” “—It meant nothing,” you quickly try to explain, going wide-eyed.

“Okay.. well—” “I’m serious.. I didn’t tell you because it didn’t seem relevant," you say, shaking your head in confusion. "I don’t know why he told you about that when I thought I made it clear that I like you,” you explain, and he nods, still looking a bit skeptical. 

“..Y/n, you said you don’t wanna hurt me? Then I need you to be honest and tell me if you still like him or not. I need a real answer,” he says, but you weren’t sure yet. 

You’d waited for Lucas to tell you that he liked you back for years, and now that it actually happened, you didn’t know what to do. 

“Why’d Lucas wait until the day I found my soulmate to tell me?” You continued to wonder. 

Meanwhile, Doyoung was still looking to you for an answer.

...

He ended up leaving without one, though— telling you he didn’t want to be with you unless you were sure you were over Lucas.

...

“That’s fair,” your mother figured, as you related everything to her that had happened over the past two days. She wasn’t shocked that Lucas admitted to liking you because, to be honest, she thought he had a crush on you from the first time she’d met him. 

Your mom just had the intuition for these kinds of things.

She was shocked to find out that Doyoung was the one who turned out to be your soulmate though.

“What am I gonna do, mom? Who do I choose?” You sigh, sprawling out across the couch. 

“I don’t know, I’ve never been in a love triangle before,” your mom jokes, and you lightly throw a pillow at her. “I’m serious.. I don’t know what to do.” 

“..Well, I don’t wanna tell you something cheesy, like ‘listen to your heart,’ but I think you should .. I don’t know— listen to your soulmark?” 

“..I’m scared to,” you pout, sitting up.

“Y/n. Just because something terrible happened with me and your father, doesn’t mean you don’t have to fear the same thing happening to you.” “But what if it does?” 

“Worry about it then, if it does. For now, just take the chance.” 

“..Are you saying I should be with Doyoung?” “Is he the one you want?” She asks, and you stop for a moment to *really* think about it.

All this time you’d been saying you think Doyoung’s the one, but you wanted to be sure. 

You needed to know for sure.. 

You owed that to him because he was obviously thinking that you still liked Lucas.

...

“Lucas has always been there for me, but only as a friend.. He said it himself that he didn’t realize he liked me until Doyoung came into my life.. Maybe that means he doesn’t *really* like me, but just misses the way things had been before.”

“...He just misses his best friend.”

“But with Doyoung, it’s like we clicked instantly (after a while). We just met recently, but I already consider him one of my closest friends. And he’s always been so caring and sweet towards me, even before he knew we were soulmates..”

...

“Yeah.. Doyoung is the one I want,” you nod, squinting your eyes in thought. 

“You’re sure?” 

“Yeah— I gotta call him,” you say, hopping up from the couch, and heading into your room to get your phone. 

Your mom gives a hopeful smile, thinking you’d made the right decision. 

Even though her own soulmark ended up not working out, it gave her you, and she wouldn’t trade you for anything— not even for a perfect soulmate.

…

“Doyoung?”

“Hello?”

“I wanna be with you.”

“...”

“I wasn’t sure if I was completely over Lucas before, but I am now.”

“..Are you sure?”

“Why do people keep on asking me that? I just said I am--”

“Well can you blame me? Lucas made it seem like you were still in love with him.”

“I know… I’m gonna have to talk to him about this again to make sure he really understands that I don’t like him like that anymore.”

“..Hmph.. alright well, since you called, can I ask you something?”

“Sure, what is it?”

“Will you.. Um,”

“What?”

“Be my date to the dance?”

“...”

“Hello?”

“--Sure, of course, haha.. I’ll have to come over and teach you how to dance, though, because you’re still horrible,” you laugh.

“Whatever.”

“I can’t wait to pick out a dress-- I was thinking I could get a neon green one to match our soulmarks.” It was a unique color, but it was starting to grow on you.

“That’d be one ugly dress,” he chuckles. 

“rUde. I like this color.”

“It’s weird.”

“I don’t think so.” 

“You’re weird too,” he laughs.

“--Doesn’t that make *you* weird too, by default- since you have the same soulmark?”

“..heh, I guess it does,”

…

Later that day, you met up with Lucas at the movies. 

It was nothing like old times though. 

It was a bit awkward since he’d gotten rejected by you yesterday, but you only agreed to come here with him so you could tell him in person that you didn’t have a crush on him anymore.

You were on your way back to the car, discussing the movie, when all of a sudden, Lucas said, “I’m sorry for kissing you yesterday.. I shouldn’t have sprung all of that onto you— especially when you had just found out who your soulmate was..” 

Your eyes flick up towards him. 

“Eh, it’s okay— you only sent my *entire world* into a state of confusion... No big deal,” you joke. “Sorry... I really do love you though..” He says, and you don’t respond.

“Are you going to at least *think* about being with me? Or are you set on Doyoung?” 

“..Lucas, I don’t think you’re really in love with me.” “Y/n—” “I think you just really value our friendship and are worried that things will change once we get with our soulmates,” “That’s not true—” “And I need you to know that change is okay,” you said, despite the sad look on his face. 

You gave him a reassuring smile, but it did nothing because he was so mad at himself for not realizing he loved you sooner. 

“We’ll still be just as close as before— just with new people in our lives, okay?” 

He doesn’t respond.

You sigh, looking towards the ground. 

Most of the time, it had been you that was on the receiving end of this whole ‘rejection’ thing. But it wasn’t easy from the other side either...

“This is my decision, and I want you to respect that.” You conclude, and to your surprise, Lucas hops into his truck and pulls off without saying another word. 

“Woww..” You shake your head in disbelief. You knew he wouldn’t take it well, but you didn’t expect him to take it *that* badly.

“Oh well,” you shrug with a sigh.

Even though this didn’t go the way you thought it would, you were still sure that you’d made the right decision.


	15. CHAPTER FIFTEEN

As you were exiting the school building after classes were over the next day, you saw Isabella waiting at the bottom of the steps, to your surprise. 

“What the heck is she doing here?” 

“Y/n! Can I talk to you for a second?” 

“I don’t know where Lucas is. Goodbye.” “No, no— I’m not here to ask about that. I’m here to apologize.” She says, and you stop and turn back around to face her, giving a skeptical look. 

“I’m sorry for everything— for posting that video, for getting you drunk, for everything my dad did..” she blurts out.

“Our dad..” you corrected. “..Right.” She sighs, and you cross your arms.

“Look, I don’t have any good reason for what I did to you, but I just kept feeling so worthless— like I was the mistake.. Yangyang told me you thought you were the mistake, but no-- I think I was.. And i couldn’t brush that feeling off, so I just projected my anger onto you, when I should’ve just talked to dad about it.. I’m sorry,” she tearfully explains. 

Your expression softens, and you reach out to hug her. 

“..Maybe neither of us were the mistake,” you say softly, and she nods.

Your own eyes were beginning to fill up with tears. 

“And, before you ask— I just want you to know I’m *not* doing this to get Lucas back. I know I already messed that up.. I’m apologizing because I shouldn’t have hurt you— especially when you’ve already been through so much.. Making you feel bad didn’t even make my own pain go away,” she sniffles, shaking her head, and you nod. 

“I forgive you, okay? Stop crying,” you say, giving a small smile. “Are we finally having a sisterly moment?” Bella points out, sniffling, and you laugh. “Yeah, I guess we are,” you reply.

…

You were on your way to Doyoung’s dorm before you ran into Isabella, and to your surprise, that conversation actually made you feel better. You two exchanged numbers and agreed to start hanging out and getting to know each other. 

“Maybe having a sister won’t be so bad..” You thought to yourself, feeling hopeful.

When you got to the dorm, you knocked on the door. You could hear the muffled music playing from the inside. It sounded like one of the songs you’d picked out for the dance playlist. 

“Come in, it’s unlocked,” you heard Mark say.

When you entered the dorm, you saw Mark and Doyoung slow dancing, and immediately busted out laughing. 

“What?” Mark asked, looking confused. 

“Are you practicing how to dance with him before having to practice with me?” You asked Doyoung, between giggles, pointing at Mark. “I needed the extra help,” he replies defensively, trying to explain. 

“He really did..” Mark agrees, wincing as he looked down at his red feet— which had been stepped on multiple times. 

“Alright, he’s all yours. I’ma, um, head out and get some more ice for the freezer,” Mark says, leaving you two alone.

You take Mark's place and dance with Doyoung to the music, already noticing he was much better than the first time you’d danced with him. 

“Mark must be a great dance teacher, you haven’t even stepped on me yet,” you say with a laugh, and Doyoung nods. “He’s a much better teacher than you are,” he teases, and you squint your eyes at him.

After a few songs played out, you figured he was good to go for the actual dance. 

You both had been gazing into each other's eyes again, and you wanted to break the silence. It was weird— you’d danced like this with him before, but now that you knew he was your soulmate, things just seemed different when he touched you.

“You know I thought that purple devil was your real soulmark?” You say with an embarrassed smile, breaking eye contact. 

“No way.. That thing looked like an emoji— why would you think it was real?” Doyoung laughs, looking at you wide-eyed. “I don’t know, it looked really convincing, okay?” You reply in defense, trying not to laugh. 

“You must need to get your eyes checked or something,” he jokes, and you smack him on the arm.

“Let’s take a break, you want a water?” He asks in between giggles. 

“Sure,” you nod, walking over to the couch. 

“Jeez, I can’t wait to get this stupid cast off,” you say, glaring down at the dreaded thing. 

“It’s so itchy.” “You complain too much, it’ll be off soon,” Doyoung says, handing you a water bottle. “You’d be complaining about it too, if it were you who had to wear it,” 

“No way, I’ve had way worse than that,” he says, sitting down next to you. “Like what?” You ask. 

Suddenly he starts unbuttoning his shirt, out of nowhere. “Um.. what is he—” 

He was trying to show you a nasty scar that ran along his ribcage. 

“Ooo.. that looks bad-- how did you get that scar?” You ask, wide-eyed.

“Um.. well..” He stuttered, a bit embarrassed. 

“What?” “Don’t laugh..” “I can’t make any promises,” you say, raising an eyebrow. 

“..I was running from a bee, but then I tripped, and still ended up getting stung,” he says, making a pained face as if he remembered the injury like it was yesterday. 

You tried, but couldn’t hold yourself back from laughing. “A bee is responsible for this huge scar?!” You cackle, and Doyoung gives you an annoyed look, but your laughter was so contagious that he begins laughing as well.

Suddenly the door opens back up to reveal Mark, who was typing something into his phone. 

“Guys, I got all the way to the ice machine but realized I left my… my wallet.. —what are you two doing?” he asked when he finally looked up from his phone, staring at the two of you in confusion.

All he saw was you two on the couch with Doyoung’s shirt unbuttoned, so to him it looked like something else was going on.

IF UK WHICH KDRAMA I STOLE THIS SCENE FROM 💀😂

“Why is your shirt unbuttoned?”

You and Doyoung both look from Mark to Doyoung’s bare chest, realizing what he was thinking, before he quickly grabbed a pillow and covered himself. 

“It’s not what it looks like—” You say abruptly, shaking your head, feeling heat rush to your face. “I.. --spilled water on his shirt, and he was gonna go change it..” you lie. “Why did I say that? I could’ve just told him the truth-”

“...Righht.” Mark nods, looking like he didn’t believe you at all, turning to head into his room to get his wallet. “Be right back,” he says, before heading back out.

After he was gone, you both awkwardly looked at each other, before busting out laughing again. “He really thought something was going on,” Doyoung laughs, buttoning his shirt back up. “I know,” you shake your head, giggling. 

“I actually wouldn’t mind if you kissed me, though,” you say, meaning it jokingly, but Doyoung stops laughing, looking at you wide-eyed.

“What?” You asked with an unsure smile.

He stared at you for a moment, as if he was deciding whether he should or not, before leaning over and pressing his lips to yours. 

...

You couldn’t believe he actually did that. 

Truthfully, you thought you’d have to be the one to kiss him first.

You pull away, wide-eyed, saying, “You didn’t actually have to do that!”

He gives a small smirk before saying, “I wanted to,” making you flashback to the time he kissed you on the forehead. “He said the same thing that day--” 

You didn’t like how fast he was making you fall for him. It was weird— after years of liking the same person, now you were seeing yourself building a whole future with someone else.

You thought about leaving, because you were so scared, but then your mom’s words echoed throughout your mind. “Just take a chance.”

So you did.

Before you knew it, you were kissing him back.

…

The kisses were slow and full of the same emotion you’d heard him sing with- that day at the karaoke restaurant. 

You both didn’t realize how much you needed each other until now. 

This wasn’t your first kiss (thanks to Lucas), but it was your first time being so vulnerable with somebody. 

As you slowly leaned back onto the couch, somehow your hands found themselves in his hair, gradually making their way down to his shoulders. 

Suddenly the thought, “This isn’t right,“ popped into your mind, and you stopped him. 

It startled you to see how closely he was hovering over you when you opened your eyes.

“I think we should just be friends first.” You say, catching your breath. “We barely even know each other.. Like really know each other.”

You wanted to be with him— you really did, but you also thought it was important to do this relationship thing right. 

You didn’t want the only thing you two liked doing together to be kissing. You wanted to have other things in common and learn more about each other before just jumping into this.

Doyoung nods, realizing you were right. You two were friends, but there was still a lot that you didn’t know about each other yet. 

“Okay.. We’ll take it slow.” 

(yes ^that was a song reference)

Suddenly, Mark walks back in.

You both jump apart to opposite sides of the couch before he notices, but he still could tell you two were acting weird again.

“Yo- dude, your hair is all messed up,” he laughs, pointing it out because Doyoung usually always had his hair neatly done. 

“Haha, Y/n, yours too..” he says, but then his smile fades. “Wait, were you two-” “LeAving. I’m leaving,” you interject before he can say anything more, dashing out the door. Mark’s jaw drops wide open, as his eyes follow you in shock, before landing back on Doyoung, who was nervously rubbing his neck. 

“Wait— is she?” “Stop talking.” “Is she your soulmate?!” Mark asks excitedly, finally making the connection. Doyoung face palms, trying to cover up how much he was blushing. 

“I always thought her soulmate was Lucas! That’s why I never even thought-- woww,” Mark laughs, shaking his head. 

“Ohhh, so that means Lucas is the best friend you were worried about… It all makes sense now!” “Please stop talking.” “Sorry,” he laughs, loading the ice into the freezer. 

“..So is she like, your girlfriend now?” Mark asks, but instead of answering, Doyoung gets up and heads to his room, closing the door behind him. 

“I’m happy for you!” Mark calls after him.

…

“So did you see Doyoung today?” Your mom asks as you walk in the house. “Yup- I did.” 

“That’s nice.. when are you having him over again? You should invite him for dinner or something.” “Yeah- maybe some time,” you say, hurrying to your room and closing the door behind you, not wanting to say anything more about it. 

“Hm. okay,” your mom said to herself with a nod, getting the message.

...

When you woke up the next morning, your dad was in the house. 

You quickly shut your door, before he could notice you were awake. “What is he doing here?!” You wonder to yourself. 

All you wanted to do was go to the bathroom to get ready for the day, but your dad was in the kitchen, speaking with your mother about something. 

You couldn’t hear the conversation because they were speaking in hushed tones though.

...

You texted Doyoung about your current situation, and he asked if you wanted to come to the amusement park with him and some others, so you wouldn’t have to be there in the house anymore.

He said a group had invited him to come earlier, and he declined, but now that he knew your situation, he’d figured you’d rather be out than at home with that man in the house.

…

You exited the house immediately, after Doyoung texted that he was outside, saying nothing more then, “I’m going out with some friends, mom,” before you left. 

You didn’t really wanna leave her alone with Bruce, but she didn’t seem to be uncomfortable, so you just brushed the thought off and left out the door.

…

When you got outside, you looked around for Doyoung’s car, but a blue one, filled with other students from your school, honked for you to come over. 

When you got a little closer to it, you saw Moonbin was in the driver's seat, Aisha was in the passenger's seat, and Taeil, and Doyoung were in the back. “Hey, get in,” Doyoung opens the door for you, and you slide in next to him. 

“Are you sure you wanna sit in the middle?” Taeil asks him. “Yup,” he replies. 

You didn’t know this, but Doyoung remembered that you told him you had a crush on Taeil one time, and he didn’t want you to sit next to him just in case that crush came back. 

It was probably stupid, but he couldn’t help thinking that way because of the whole Lucas thing. He couldn’t take any chances.

…

The amusement park wasn’t far from your house, so you got there pretty fast.

During the ride over, you were discussing with Aisha how preparations for the End of The Year dance were going without you on the team anymore, and to your surprise, everything seemed to be working out just fine. 

They had chosen Taeil and Jaehyun to sing a few songs during the dance, and they’d also gotten Doyoung and Sejeong to agree to singing a duet afterwards. 

Everything seemed to be working out great.

…

When you got to the amusement park, Aisha and Moonbin immediately walked off somewhere, leaving you with just Doyoung and Taeil.

“Ohhkay, so they abandoned,” you laugh, shaking your head. “Eh, well we’ll prolly run into them again later on,” Taeil shrugs. “Let’s go ride something,” Doyoung says, walking off to this tall looking roller coaster.

“Are you scared?” He asks you, once the three of you are in the line for the ride.

“No.. I don’t get scared until we’re strapped into the seats, and then flung into the air,” you say jokingly, but you notice Doyoung and Taeil’s expressions change into a fearful one. 

“This one is kinda tall.. Maybe we should ride another one,” Taeil suggests. “No way. We’re riding this,” you laugh.

Once you’re closer to the ride, and can see it taking off- noticing how fast it goes. 

“Taeil?” You whispered to him, when Doyoung wasn’t paying attention. 

“What?” He whispered back, looking confused as to why you were whispering. 

“When we get called up to the ride, let’s ditch him,” you whisper, and he gives you a shocked look. “You wanna leave him?” “Yeah- as a prank.. Come on, it’ll be hilarious,” you say. “Alright, let’s do it— but don’t be mad if I throw you under the bus when he asks who’s idea this was,” he laughs, making Doyoung turn around.

“What’s funny?” He asks, looking confused. 

He’d been staring at the roller coaster and each time a group got off, he saw the terror on their faces- making him even more apprehensive about riding this roller coaster, so he really didn’t understand what you two could be laughing about.

“Nothing,” you say innocently, raising your eyebrows like you were confused too. Taeil mimicked your innocent expression, and Doyoung squinted at you skeptically, but eventually just let it go.

A few minutes passed by, and you three had arrived at the front of the line.

“Y/n-- I’m afraid to sit by myself, can you sit next to me?” Taeil cries out, out of nowhere (acting— to make Doyoung believe he was actually scared). “Sure, I’ll sit next to you.. If that’s okay with you- i mean,” you say to Doyoung, who pouts but eventually shrugs, as an ‘ok’. 

The plan worked and he went ahead to sit by himself.

While he was getting strapped into the seat, you and Taeil snuck out, and headed towards the exit, hurrying down the stairs before Doyoung could notice you two were gone.

“We’re terrible for this,” you say with a laugh. “I know.. You don’t think he’ll be too mad at us, do you?” Taeil asks, fearfully. 

As you noticed over the years of knowing Doyoung, he sort of had a temper, but you were sure he wouldn’t be too angry about this.

“Nah,” you shake your head with a laugh.

…

“Y/n, you said he wouldn’t be mad!” Taeil yelled as you two ran throughout the amusement park.

About three minutes after you’d said that, you both saw Doyoung running down the stairs coming from the ride, charging straight towards you two, looking angry.

“I’m sorry! I thought he’d know it was a joke,” you yell back, trying to catch your breath. You were already getting tired of running, and were starting to slow down.

Suddenly, you were snatched up off of the ground.

“No-” you gasped, watching as Taeil successfully got away, leaving you behind to face the wrath of Doyoung. 

“How could you abandon me? That ride went in loops *backwards* and then forwards again!” He complained, but all you could do was laugh. 

“You think this is funny?” He asked, spinning you around. You could hear it in his voice that he wasn’t really angry. He was trying to be, but he ended up just laughing too.

“Put me down-” you giggled, and he dropped you immediately. 

“How could you abandon your own soulmate like that?” He asks, pretending to be offended. 

“It was a joke,” you laugh, but he continues pouting.

“Look, if it bothers you that much, I’ll go back and ride it for real,” you say, and he nods.

“That would be fair, but you have to sit in the very front row,” 

“The front row?! How is that fair?” “It’s not- I just wanna get pay back on you for ditching me,” he smiles, and you squint your eyes at him. 

Suddenly, you notice Taeil walking back up to the two of you. 

“Traitor #2,” Doyoung says, glaring at Taeil. “Ehheh.. Pranked ya..”

…

“Y/N THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!” Taeil yelled as soon as the ride sped off.

Doyoung made you both sit in the front row of the ride to get you back for leaving him to ride it on his own. 

You actually didn’t mind it— since you loved roller coasters, but Taeil was genuinely fearing for his life.

…

After many more rides and snack breaks, it was starting to get dark and all the rides lit up. 

The whole amusement park looked so pretty.

“This is almost like a first date,” you think to yourself, glancing up at Doyoung as you three walked over to the ferris wheel. It was the only thing you guys hadn’t ridden yet, since you wanted to wait until it got dark to get on it.

“..Only we’re here just as friends,” 

After a while of waiting in the long line, you finally get to sit down on the ferris wheel. It was a relief to be sitting again, since you’d been walking around this place all day and your feet were sore.

It was just two to a seat, so Taeil chose to sit with a stranger in the seat behind you and Doyoung. 

…

The ride moved pretty slow, but it was kind of relaxing up there.

You pulled out your phone and snapped a selfie with Doyoung, making sure to angle it in a way that you’d get all the rides in the background too.

“Hey- I’ve always meant to ask you this, but kept forgetting—” “Ask me what?” “Why are you always reading books? ..Like I remember- ever since I first met you in middle school, you were always reading something. I don’t know.. It’s weird, I just never see people actually *reading* anymore these days,” you say, looking over at him.

“It’s my way of escaping the real world.. My own life has always been boring, so I like reading about other people’s lives, since they're more interesting than mine,” “..I get that. That’s why I love watching movies so much,” you say, thinking back to that time you were over your dad’s house watching a movie with him.

“Between all the drama with my family, and everything else- movies, and music are my only escape,” you say, and he nods. “I did work things out with Bella now though.. We’re on speaking terms now.” “Oh really? That’s great.” He raises his eyebrows, and you give a small smile.

“..Maybe now that we have each other, we won’t need to escape our real lives anymore,” you say, scooting a little closer next to him. He nods, looking at you wide-eyed again, almost as if he was still scared to trust you.

“He’s probably still worried about the Lucas thing..” You thought, gazing down onto the brightly lit amusement park below you. 

You were at the very top of the ferris wheel now.

“I talked to Lucas yesterday by the way..” “Oh? How’d it go?” “It could’ve gone better, but I’m sure he’ll get over it.. Maybe him and my sister will get back together,” you shrug. “And that wouldn’t bother you?” He asks, and you look back over at him.

“No, not at all,” you say confidently.

You really meant it this time. You were over Lucas.

Doyoung nods, giving a small smile. His look of fear was gone.

“His eyes are so beautiful,” you thought to yourself, watching as the lights from the roller coasters looked like they were dancing in his eyes.

You didn’t even notice, but you two had gradually inched closer towards each other, and were slowly leaning in.

You know you said you just wanted to be friends, but it was like you two were magnets that couldn’t be separated or something--

“Guys! Come on, the ride is over,” Taeil says from the ground, making you look around, startled, realizing you both had to get out now.

Doyoung sighed, mildly annoyed that Taeil had interrupted, before following you out.

After a bit more walking around, (and deciding to buy more cotton candy), you finally found Aisha and Moonbin again.

“Where have you two been?” You ask, wide-eyed. 

“We could ask you the same thing,” Aisha laughs and Moonbin squints his eyes and nods, agreeing. 

They didn’t even notice they had walked off without the three of you earlier.

…

After a while more of riding the same rides a second time (they seemed cooler at night), it started getting really late, and you all were tired from being whipped around in the air at crazy speeds all day, so you all figured it was time to go home.

On the way back, Moonbin dropped Taeil and Aisha (who had both fallen asleep) off first, and then headed over to your house next, since he lived in the dorms like Doyoung. 

“Hey, you okay?” Doyoung asks you, noticing you were being oddly quiet, and figured you were either really tired, or thinking about your dad. “Yeah, I’m good..” You reply, trying to give him a reassuring smile before leaning your head onto his shoulder. He nodded and gave a small smile back, wondering if you really meant it. 

When you finally got home, you thanked Moonbin for driving, and he gave you a tired sounding “you’re welcome”. Doyoung got out and walked you to your building, stopping at the steps. 

“Thanks for inviting me out today.. I needed to get my mind off things.” 

“Yeah, no problem. Today was fun.. Um, are hugs okay?” He asks, and you figure he was asking that because you said you just wanted to be friends.

“Yeah,” you smile, “hugs are okay,” and before you know it, his arms are wrapped around you. 

You hugged him back, laughing when you two almost fell over.

...

You said it was okay, but you both ended up hugging for way longer than a ‘friend hug’ should last, getting interrupted by a loud “aHem,” coming from behind you. 

You turned around to see Lucas coming down the steps. 

“What is he doing here so late?” You scrunch your eyebrows up in confusion. 

“Y/n, can I talk to you for a second?” He asks, briefly glancing at Doyoung before his eyes landed back on you. 

“He must’ve been waiting here for a while..” you realize, softening your expression a bit.

“Um, sure..”

Doyoung didn’t wanna let go— it took all the strength he had to finally do so, and he walked back over to Moonbin’s car, to leave. “I’ll text you later, Y/n,” he says, and you nod, watching them leave.

“What do you want?” You ask flatly. 

“I.. I wanted to apologize for the way I reacted to what you said yesterday— I really do respect your opinion, it just took a minute for me to process that you really did get over your crush on me. I really thought you’d choose me over him right away,” he laughs bitterly. 

You give him a slightly pitiful look, when suddenly he pulls you in for a hug.

“I’ll try…” He says in a hushed tone. “I’ll try to respect your decision, no matter who you choose. I just need you in my life, okay? Whether it be as a friend, or something more. I don’t wanna lose you,” he says, sounding emotional.

“I don’t wanna lose you either, Lucas..”

Lucas wasn’t sure if the only reason he said he loved you was for the reason you said it was— that he was just scared of change, but he knew he was willing to support you no matter who you chose in the end.

...

As you watched him leave, it occured to you that no matter what decision you made, someone was going to get hurt. 

You were sure Doyoung was the one, but you also didn’t want to hurt Lucas— even though he hurt you for years by rejecting you multiple times. “Oh well..”

It was just bad timing.. there was nothing you could do about that.

…

When you walked into the house, thankfully there was no sign of your dad. 

He was gone again.

“Hey mom,” You say, lightly knocking on her bedroom door.

“Oh, you’re back? How was the amusement park?” “Pretty fun.. What did he want?” You ask, referring to your dad’s visit earlier this morning.

She sighed before answering, “He wanted to apologize for everything. He showed up here in tears.. I wasn’t going to let him in at first, but he just looked so miserable.. I hate to say it, but I think he really does regret everything he’s done to us in the past..” She says, but you don’t answer. 

“He told me everything he told you, and shockingly, ..I didn’t care. I think I’m just at a point now where I’ve-- what’s that Ariana Grande song? ..No tears left to cry?” “Mom, no..” you cringe at her reference. “It’s true!” she laughs, and you can't help but laugh as well. 

“Well I’m happy for you.. Hopefully I’ll get to that point too,” you say with a small smile.

You weren’t ready to speak to your dad again yet, but at least now you were cool with Isabella. 

Hopefully over time you’d all be on good terms with each other.


	16. CHAPTER SIXTEEN [FINAL CHAPTER]

A few weeks passed by, and it was finally the day of the dance. 

What you were more excited about, though, was the trip to the hospital you were going to take after the dance to get your cast off.

Doyoung had put this idea in your head that maybe your soulmark changed to match Lucas’, but you thought he was worried for nothing. 

You knew you’d chosen the right one, so why would your soulmark change all of a sudden?

“...Dad probably thought he chose the right one too before his changed--”

There was a knock on your door.

“Y/n?” 

“Yeah mom?”

“Your date is here.. Do I call him that? I’m still not sure if you two are dating or not..”

“Mom, I explained this to you already- we’re just friends right now, but we’ll probably date eventually, since we’re soulmates..” you say, making it seem like it was simple. 

“But yes- tonight he is my date..” you add quietly.

“..Well i’m glad you’re not confused about it,” your mom says, shaking her head.

…

Once you were finished getting ready, you hurried out to Doyoung’s car. 

He was stressed out because you were making him late to the dance and he had the opening performance. 

“You are so slow, Y/n,” 

“I’m sorry, okay? I couldn’t decide if this dress matched my cast more, or if my white one would match it more-- and then I decided the white one was too fancy for a school dance, so I just went with this one,” you explain, hopping into the car.

Doyoung shoots you an annoyed look, before speeding off.

…

Once you got to the campus, Doyoung ran inside, probably heading backstage, so you wandered off to see how the decorations turned out. 

“Y/n! I didn’t think you were coming- the dance started a while ago,” Aisha says, coming up to you. She was wearing a blue dress, probably to match her and Moonbin’s soulmarks.

“I tried my best, but I think it’s actually impossible for me to show up to things on time,” you shrug with a laugh, following her into the room where the dance was taking place.

“Woah, everything looks so pretty, I can barely recognize the place!” You exclaim, looking around the room. The decorations were so sparkly. 

This place looked expensive-- nothing like a college rec room.

“I know right-- oh, by the way, look who Ms Thompson is with,” Aisha says with a smirk, pointing over to where she was standing at the punch table.

Your eyes followed where she was pointing until they landed on your teacher with this guy who looked like a model.

“No way! Is that her soulmate?” You exclaim in shock. 

“Yeah, apparently she found him online and he was still single.”

“Wow.. She should thank me, I gave her the advice to do that,” you say with a laugh, shaking your head.

Suddenly the lights dimmed, and the spotlight began to shine onto the stage at the front of the room. 

Jaehyun was the mc for the dance tonight, so he’d be introducing all the singers.

You and Aisha both hurried to find a seat at one of the nicely decorated tables. 

…

After giving everyone a warm welcome to the dance, Jaehyun introduced Doyoung and Sejeong as the first duet of the night.

“Hey, do you know what song they're gonna sing?” you whisper to Aisha. She would know because she was also in charge of the setlist for the night.

“Yeah, they’re singing that song they wrote a few years ago- Star Blossom,” she whispers back.

“Oh, I don't think i’ve heard it before,” you say, furrowing your eyebrows in thought.

“They sang it for a talent show, back in highschool, you probably weren't there.”

“True..”

…

The song was cute, and some people- including Aisha and Moonbin, got up to slow dance while they were singing.

Since you had no one to dance with, you just sat back and watched everyone else. It was like a scene from a disney movie, everyone seemed happy.

“Doyoung and that girl have a lot of chemistry..” you think to yourself, watching them gaze into each other's eyes as they sing, starting feeling a twinge of jealousy for some reason.

Suddenly, someone walked in front of you, blocking your view of the stage.

“Can you mov— oh, hey Lucas,” you interrupt yourself, noticing who it was.

He was in a tux.

“You look good,” you say with a smile.

“Thanks.. wanna dance?” He asks, extending a hand out to you.

Your smile fades as you look from Lucas, to Doyoung, thinking he probably wouldn't want you to dance with him.

“Um, I probably shouldn't—”

“Come on, just for this song,” Lucas says, not taking no for an answer, and grabbing your hand. 

He led you to the center of the dance floor and you just shrugged and figured, “What’s the harm? It's just one song..”

…

You were having so much fun that you didn't even realize the song had ended and the next duet was already beginning.

Taeil and Sohlee were up next, and since their song was a bit more upbeat, everyone stopped slow dancing and decided to just two step to the music.

“Alright well, your one song is up, i’m gonna go back to my seat now,” you say, but Lucas puts his hand on your shoulder.

“Wait, can't you stay for one more song?” He asks, fake pouting, and you make a face, before agreeing to dance with him for this song too, but after that you were sitting back down.

“So did you ever work things out with Bella?” you ask, and Lucas makes a face that says he doesn't want to talk about her.

“No..”

“Why not? I’m cool with her now. I remember you saying that if I didn't like her you wouldn't be with her, but I like her now.. so what are you doing?”

“Y/n, you know why-”

“She's your soulmate.. I know she messed up, but I think you should give her another chance,” you suggest, giving him a sympathetic look.

“I don't know..”

“Well, think about it at least.” You say, and he nods.

You still weren't used to being the one Lucas was pining after instead of it being the other way around, but hopefully he’d get over this soon.

“Hey, you're getting your cast off today, right?”

“Yeah, why?”

“Can I come? I wanna be there when it comes off,” he says, and you give him a skeptical look, wondering if he was the one who scared Doyoung into thinking your soulmark would change.

“..Nah, Lucas wouldn't do that.”

“Ok, sure. You don't have to take me though, Doyoung’s my ride..” you say, and he nods.

…

Eventually the song ended, and you headed back to your seat.

Your table was still empty because Aisha and Moonbin were still out on the dance floor, and Doyoung was nowhere to be found.

“Some date he is..” you sigh to yourself, sitting back down.

“Hey Y/n,” a voice from behind you says.

You twist around in your seat to see who was talking to you, and it was Mark.

“Hey,”

“Why are you just sitting here?”

“I’m waiting for Doyoung to come back. He’s still backstage right now,” you say, and Mark scrunches his eyebrows.

“No he’s not- I just saw him out in the hallway with Sejeong, I think,” he says, and a worried look comes across your face.

“Come with me,” you say, grabbing Mark’s wrist and yanking him over to the doors.

“Ow- why are you dragging me over here?!”

“Quiet down, we’re gonna spy on them,” you harshly whisper to him, before opening one of the doors a crack, just to peek out.

Mark was right.

You saw Doyoung leaning up against the lockers, talking with Sejeong. 

“..They're probably just talking, you don't have to be worried,” Mark whispers after concluding that you were jealous.

“..Yeah.. yeah, you're probably right. I’m being weird, sorry,” you nod, letting go of his wrist, and closing the door back.

Mark winces, rubbing his wrist.

“Hey, what does your soulmark look like?” You ask out of curiosity, glancing down at it.

“I really don't know what it is.. it kind of looks like a mix between a star and a flower,” he shrugs, showing you.

“Yours is neon green too,” you laugh, and he nods. 

“I like it, it's pretty,” you smile, when suddenly the door opens behind you.

Someone slides their hand into yours, and you make a face of confusion, before turning to see it was Doyoung.

“I thought you were someone else,” you smile, shaking your head. 

“You sounded great up there,” you say, trying to act like you weren't just spying on him a minute ago. “I know,” he smiles back, and Mark just watches.

“So, are you two dating now?” He asks.

“Yes.” “No.”

You stare at Doyoung, stunned that he said yes, and he stares back at you, equally as surprised.

“What?”

“I thought we were on the same page about this- we’re not dating yet,” you explain again.

“But we--”

“ArE sTiLL jUsT fRiEnDs,” you interrupt.

“This is confusing,” he pouts, shaking his head. 

“Yeah, my mom thought so too,” you roll your eyes. It was simple to you, but not to everyone else.

“..I shouldn't have asked-” Mark says, turning on his heel.

“Hey Mark, wait up— I found out who your soulmate is,” Doyoung calls after him.

Mark spins back around in an instant.

“You what?! Who is it?”

“Sejeong,” 

“You're kidding! Wait- is that what you two were talking about out there, just a minute ago?” he asks.

“Yeah.. how did you know we were—”

“Unimportant- I have to go find her,” Mark says, running off.

“Wow,” you laugh, shaking your head.

“Guess I was jealous for no reason then..”

…

Jaehyun was on stage singing a ballad, and since he was the last singer of the night, you and Doyoung decided to go dance.

All of that practicing paid off because he didn't step on you once, thankfully.

“Lucas came here by himself?” Doyoung asks you, noticing him sitting at a table, alone.

“Yeah,” you sigh, glancing over your shoulder at him.

“Oh, speaking of, he’s coming with us to get my cast off,” you say, and as expected, a frown came across Doyoung’s face.

“..You don't have a problem with that, do you?”

He doesn't answer.

“Y/n, if your soulmark does change--”

“Why do you keep saying that? It won’t!”

“You don't know that.. If it does, would you still want to be with me?” He asks with a sad look on his face.

You were avoiding eye contact, but you finally looked up into his glistening eyes and nodded.

“..If my soulmark changes— even though it won't.. I still wanna be with you,” you say confidently, and his bright smile returns to his face. 

“You promise?” He asks, holding out his pinky.

You stare at it with a smirk, “I thought you said pinky promises were stupid?” “Just do it.” 

“Alright, alright,” you laugh, wrapping your pinky around his.

“Can I kiss you?” He asks out of nowhere.

Your jaw drops in shock.

“No! What about ‘just friends’ aren't you getting?” you ask, raising your eyebrows, before walking off towards the seats.

“But we're soulmates!” he says, sounding genuinely confused, following after you.

…

Eventually the dance ended, and everyone headed home.

Aisha and the rest of the dance committee had to stay behind and clean everything up, and for once, you were glad you got suspended from the team. They had a lot of decorations to take down.

...

You headed over to the hospital, with Lucas following behind you in his truck.

Your mom had texted you, asking how you were doing, and you replied back saying, “not gonna lie, i’m a bit worried my soulmark changed..”

“What?”

“what if doyoung’s right? my soulmark could’ve changed! i am my father's daughter after all..”

“..Well, you said you didn't want to hurt anybody, and you already made your decision to choose him, so you should stick with that one.”

“i know.. you're right- and i said i would but, what if i make the same mistake as dad and run off with lucas?”

“ ..Just *don't* ”

“you make it sound simple -_-”

“IT IS!”

“What are you laughing about over there?” Doyoung asks, glancing away from the road, over at you.

“Hmm? Oh nothing, my mom’s just being annoying,” you shake your head with a smile.

…

“Okay, are you ready to get this thing off, Y/n?” The nurse asks, holding the scary looking instrument that would do it.

“I was ready as soon as I got it put on,” you say, and she laughs, but you were serious.

Lucas and Doyoung were anxiously sitting behind you, waiting to see your wrist.

“Alright so, I know this looks a bit intimidating, but it won't hurt you,” she says, holding up something called a ‘cast saw’.

“The cast saw is going to cut through the plaster, and then I’ll take my rounded tip scissors and remove the padding and cotton lining underneath. Okay? Simple.” she says, and you slowly nod, not taking your eyes off of the saw.

“I’m going to cut down both sides of the cast first, so I can get to the padding.” She says, and then gets to work.

…

“There you go, your wrist is good as new!”

After she's finally done, you start to peak through the cracks between your fingers.

You had your eyes covered, and so did Doyoung, because you were both scared to see your wrist. It was almost like the day soulmarks came in- when you’d been too scared to look at it then too. 

Lucas wasn't though, and when you opened your eyes, he wasn't there anymore.

“Look at that. The music notes are as bright as ever,” the nurse chuckles as she stands to begin cleaning up.

“Doyoung open your eyes,” you say, not looking away from your wrist.

He does, and once he sees that your soulmark hasn't changed, his eyes start welling up with tears.

He walks over to you and pulls his sleeve up, then holds his wrist up against yours.

“matching soulmarks.. this is still hard to process.”

He looked shocked, yet happy at the same time, and so did you.

“Oh wow! You two are soulmates!” The nurse exclaims, raising her eyebrows. 

You felt tears welling up in your own eyes as you looked up at Doyoung with a smile.

Before you knew it, he’d leaned down and kissed you.

He was completely ignoring the whole ‘just friends’ thing, but you didn't mind.

“--Ahem.” The nurse interrupted.

“You two don't have to go home, but you do have to get out of here.. I have more patients waiting,” she tries to say as nicely as possible, and you two get the point, quickly leaving the room.

“Thank you,” you say to her before leaving, and she smiles with a nod.

You took Doyoung's hand and interlocked your fingers with his as you walked out and into the parking lot, when all of a sudden you realized Lucas was gone.

“Oh shoot-- when did Lucas leave? I completely forgot he was here!” You say, stopping in your tracks.

“I don't know, I didn't see him leave either..”

“--Oh, I see him, he’s about to drive off,” you say, letting go of Doyoung’s hand and running off to Lucas’ truck.

It took everything in his power to not run after you, because it felt like you were leaving him for Lucas again, but he knew you were just going to say goodbye. 

He had nothing to worry about.

…

“Lucas, wait—” you called out, and somehow he heard you, and rolled down his window.

“Why’d you leave like that?”

“I’m sorry Y/n, but I don't know if I can just be your friend.. You don't need me anymore, you have him,” Lucas says, nodding over to Doyoung.

“You can't be serious.. We’ve been friends for years, and now all of a sudden you don't think you can do that anymore?”

“Things are different now,” he shakes his head, and then he just drives off without saying another word.

You sigh, furrowing your eyebrows.

You tried as much as you could, but you still ended up hurting somebody..

You felt somebody behind you place their hands on your shoulders, and glanced up to see Doyoung.

“Is he okay?”

“..I don't know, but I think he’ll get over it eventually. The longest he's ever been mad at me was a week, and then he came crawling back. This shouldn't be any different,” you say, trying to joke, but deep down you were really worried.

“..Come on, let's go. Your mom is probably curious about if your soulmark changed or not,” he says, and you nod, following him back to his car.

…

TEN YEARS LATER…

You and Doyoung had gotten married and had twins. Lucas and Isabella worked things out, and were dating now. Your mother got a boyfriend— ironically it was somebody else that had experienced the same thing she did, Melanie’s ex-husband. 

You and your mom even worked things out with your father, and everyone was one speaking terms again.

It was like things were finally turning out well- all it took was some time to heal those wounds.

Every now and then, you would wonder what your life would be like if you’d chosen Lucas over Doyoung, but in the end, you were happy with your decision. 

THE END~


	17. DELETED SCENE [FROM CH12]

“..You knew, didn’t you?” You ask, scrunching your eyebrows up, skeptically. 

Lucas doesn’t answer and you stand up, pissed.

“Wow. I can’t believe this,” you say, walking down the rest of the stairs, but he quickly stops you. 

“Y/n wait, I can explain—” 

“Explain what? How you’re allowed to have your soulmate, and i’m not?” You roll your eyes, trying to walk away again, but he steps in front of you. 

“Can you get out of my way? I don’t wanna speak to you,” you say, walking around him. 

“Y/n wait— ..I didn’t tell you because I like you.” He blurts out, and you freeze in your tracks. “I mean.. I think I love you,” he corrects himself.

“How many surprises am I gonna get today?” 

“I wanted you all to myself, so I didn’t tell you he was your soulmate..” Lucas admits, and you turn back around to face him. 

“Why? Why now,” You ask, shaking your head with a bitter smile, not understanding why he was just now coming to this realization. 

”I didn’t know I liked you until another guy came into the picture,” he says, shrugging his shoulders. 

“What about Isabella?” 

“I’m done with her.. I found out she was the one who posted that video of you,” he says, and your eyes go wide, but you really weren’t surprised. 

“But I’m serious, Y/n, I ended things with her. I told her I like you,” he says, walking closer towards you, but you took a few steps back. 

You were completely speechless. 

All of this seemed to have come out of nowhere. 

What happened to him thinking of you as nothing more than his best friend? 

You looked up at him with an unsure expression, when suddenly his lips landed on yours. 

You were shocked, but kissed him back, completely forgetting you had a soulmate.

...

“I can’t—” you say, pushing him away after a minute. 

Never in a million years did you think you’d be the one pushing him away, but things had obviously changed.

“..I think I like—,” you trail off, noticing Lucas glancing at someone behind you.

When you turned around to see who he was looking at, you were surprised to see it was Doyoung.

He looked hurt, yet angry at the same time.

He didn't look shocked though.

“Doyoung?” You asked wide-eyed, knowing you had just messed up really bad. 

“He wasn't supposed to see this—”

Before you could say anything else, he stormed off, heading back to his dorm.

He had been looking for you so he could tell you he was your soulmate, but it looked like you’d already chosen Lucas instead.

“Oh no,” you mutter, worriedly, scrunching your eyebrows together, trying to figure out how you could fix this.

You quickly glanced from Lucas, to Doyoung, who was already halfway across the campus now, before deciding to run after him.

You didn't say another word to Lucas.

It’d be his fault if you ended up losing your soulmate.. right?

“Doyoung! Wait-- i can explain!” You yelled, running after him as fast as you could.

He didn't even turn around.

“Please, let me explain! Lucas initiated that-- it didn't mean anything to me!”

“Are you sure about that? Because it looked like it did.” He says angrily, finally stopping for a second.

You don’t know how to answer, and he crosses his arms.

“..Ok- maybe it didn’t mean nothing.. i’ve liked him for a long time now-- but I just found out that you’re my soulmate! I’m supposed to be with you, not him..”

“You know, Y/n, I was just on my way to tell you the same thing, but then I saw you with him.”

“Wait, what are you saying?”

“That it looks like you already made your decision. I hope you two are happy together,” He says, and after that he continues walking off.

You didn’t even know how to respond, so you just watched him leave, mentally kicking yourself for not running after him again.

“I blew it..” you smiled bitterly to yourself.

“I finally found my soulmate, and I blew it.”

“Well at least you still have me,” you hear Lucas say from behind you.

“W-- you followed me?” You swung around and asked him.

“Of course.. I didn’t mean for that to happen either, Y/n.” He says, and you nod, looking at the ground.

“Why didn’t you go after him?”

“..I don’t know, maybe he’ll be better off without me,” you shrug, shaking your head as you blankly stared at the grass.

“Are you sure?”

“..No,” you said, as tears started forming in your eyes.

“I haven’t been sure of anything in a while..” you admit, shaking your head, and you feel his arm wrap around you.

“Maybe you should give him some time and then give him a call..” Lucas hesitantly suggests.

“Yeah.. that’s a good idea,” you sniffle with a nod.

“Wait, why are you helping? I thought you wanted to be with me?” You ask, looking up at him in confusion.

“What I want is for you to be happy..” he says, trying to put on a smile for you.

“You think I’ll be happier with him than with you?”

“..Of course not, but if it doesn’t work out with him, I’ll always be here,” he smirks, finally getting you to laugh a little.

“Why couldn’t you tell me you liked me before I started liking somebody else?” you roll your eyes with a slight smile, and he just shrugs innocently.

…

Meanwhile, Doyoung had stormed into his room, but was secretly wishing you’d followed after him again. 

He was angry at you, but still didn’t want you to choose Lucas.

...


End file.
